Time has really been flying, at this rate it will be June before I know it.  So last weekend I went out with the Cochrane RedRockRunners again and I did a 10.5 km run with them in 1h 15m, not a really fast run, but still a great distance for me to have accomplished.  And later that night my body told me in no uncertain words how much I have abused it.  I had already planned on taking Sunday off, which turned out to be a great rest break for my body. 

Monday I attempted to work from home, but due to technical difficulties connecting to the work environment I gave up at noon and went for a bike ride.  Initially I was only going to bike from Cochrane to Hwy 8 (the roundabout) (20km) but when I got there I felt I still had some legs left so decided I was worth an ice-cream cone and persevered another 10 km to Bragg Creek. I have to say I was quite shocked that while enjoying my hard earned ice-cream cone that I was attacked by hornet.  I thought that early March was waaaaay to early for them. It took me 1.5 hrs to peddle to Bragg Creek, its a very gentle uphill grade after the hwy 8 junction. My return trip took just a hair over an hour to do with it being a lot of down hill especially after Cochrane Corner (junction of hwy 22 and hwy 1). 

I was very pleased with myself for accomplishing this mental hurdle, as 60km is a long distance that I've only biked once prior.  About 20 years ago when I was attending the University of Alberta, I dragged a friend along and we peddled from downtown Edmonton to Leduc and back.  Sadly we had a nasty head wind that drained us on the way back, so even with a tail wind it was a brutal bike ride, and one that I've never done again. So it was a great achievement for me to have accomplished.

Tuesday I woke up to a massive tail wind so my bike ride to work was amazing, I was able to easily achieve and maintain 35km/h on my mountain bike for the entire trip.  I just wish I could do that every day!  Sadly the wind had not diminished over the day and alas I had a 50-70kmh head wind peddling back which nearly killed me.  I was lucky to get 16kmh, and was very frustrated at all the bikes that simply peddled by  me as I struggled.  I counted 11 bikes that made it look easy, and for some reason I really get frustrated that I can not keep up to them.  I know many of them have been biking for a lot longer then my 10 weeks, but a few of them looked to be bigger guys so to my perceptions I should have been able to bike like they do.

That they could easily peddle by me was very annoying and increased my resolve to become a stronger biker.  I've been reading up on ways to improve my cycling and get the higher speeds and endurance.  I did purchase some biking shoes that do seem to help, although my upper back leg muscles (biceps femoris) are not used to being used so it will be a while before I get any real benefits from the shoes.

Weekly Update

Well this is actually a bi-weekly update as this week has gone so quickly.  Last week I heavily abused my body as I was aching most of the week.  I started the week by doing the stairs at work Monday and Tuesday, now I don't work on the 3rd floor, I work on the 34th floor.  So I did 20 flights down and up each day, this week I was going to do the same, but got distracted with work and other stuff.  Probably not a horrible plan as my legs need some rest time from that abuse. 

The other major change to my regime is that last week and this week I have been biking from COP to downtown. Thus doing 120 km in a full week.  I also was out in Kananaskis on Friday so I did the 2km hill here, which really burned, but was a great feat to complete.

On Saturday I finally met up with the Cochrane running club, about 20 people where out for the run which was done in groups depending on the distances being run.  I did 6km and felt great after wards.  I then took my road bike out for a cruise. I biked from Cochrane to Cochrane corner (hwy 1) and back, this was a mental mile stone as I have never done it before and learnt I can easily do a 24 km bike ride as well.  To finish off the day I took my dog for a hike at Heart Creek, a beautiful trail, that my dog greatly enjoyed as well.  There was a couple treacherous parts covered in sheer ice on a hill side, but otherwise the trail was in great shape. 

On Sunday I did the Cochrane to Cochrane Corner again, and debated going further, but didn't want to kill my body.  I did have a nasty cross wind on Sunday, and a heavy head wind on Saturday.  Which was good practice as I am sure I'll have to deal with many windy days when biking in my trek.

So I hate bikes passing me, I know I may not be the fastest out there, but some days I sure feel like the slowest!  I've started researching training methods for biking as well, and building a training plan of sorts to get in better condition for those loooooong days on the road. And perhaps keep a few more cyclists behind me.

One other preparation I've started is to try and determine what route is the best to take to Vancouver.  I've mapped out a handful of them on a cool website that works with google maps, unfortunately its mangled all the maps I've made, so I have to remake them on a different site and then I'll share them and start discussing the pro's n cons of each route.