Internal Mono(b)log

Wow! So crazy busy these days – in a good way, but still 🙂

This weekend, along with my normal long ride/long run, on Saturday morning I did a VO2Max retest with my coach, Ian McLean at ImFit.ca and did a swim stroke analysis session at AbsoluteEndurance.com.

The retest was good, a hard effort, but rewarding. All the hard work over the last 3 months, since my last test, have paid off. I don’t have the actual numbers yet, but initial feedback was that my threshold power is up about 40w, my VO2 max is up, my fat metabolism is working better. Generally I’m more fit and utilizing my body more efficiently. All good! I’ll post the actual data once I get it from Ian.

The swim session, this morning with Brittany at AbsoluteEndurance.com was pretty cool. The session was an hour long, in their endless pool. The pool has mirrors on the bottom and at 45° at the front of the pool, so you can see your stroke while you’re in the water. Brittany and I spent the hour working on small tweaks to my form. She said that my form is actually really good, but that when I try to pickup the pace, rather than keeping long and powerful, I tend to short myself on the power part of the pull and pickup the stroke tempo. Useful feedback and stuff to work on for me. Awesome! 🙂

Of course, having set new threshold power and VO2max levels, means my workouts are now going to get more intense. Bring it!

Yesterday’s long ride, which was planned to be multiple runs of the Milton Tri course, turned into 2 hrs at 200w on my trainer in the pain-cave. It was too foggy and wet to ride solo safely (I could sometimes not see cars infront of me, never mind bikes), and while I really really want to be outside, I also want to be alive. *sigh*

Today’s run was cool and wet, but the weather kept me from overheating and, you know, once you’re out there and in it, it’s not so bad. Hard to psyche yourself up for it, but really, honestly, once you’re going, it’s all good. I did get to wear my new Sugoi Firewall Tights and new Sugoi Versa Jacket. I didn’t really get to take advantage of the removeable sleeves on the jacket, but the tights were just PERFECT for today’s weather. The firewall fabric on these tights worked exactly as you’d want, keeping the worst of the rain and wind off your legs. I’m really impressed with these and was afraid that, given that it’s mid May, I wasn’t going to get a chance to wear them until fall. Guess this shitty weather is good for something after all.

Contemplating yesterday’s ride and today during my run, there were times when the fact that I wear a RoadID was really forefront in my mind. 3-times during my run today, I was nearly hit, clipped or was cut-off by a drivers who just didn’t see me, or having seen me, didn’t register with them that what they were doing was potentially dangerous or life-threatening to me. Knowing that I have a RoadID on and it can speak for me, if I can’t, lends some peace of mind at these times. I own 3 RoadIDs and, because I train (usually solo) 7-days a week, I’m almost always wearing one. I really believe in this product. It won’t make you faster. It won’t make you more efficient. It won’t get you to your training goals any easier. But… it may keep you alive in a situation where otherwise the outcome may not be as happy.

I believe in this product so much, that I’m sponsoring a give-away for a RoadID Wrist ID Sport customized with your info and shipped to you anywhere in the world! There are up to 5 ways that you can enter this draw. Each action qualifies you for 1 entry. Perform all 5, get 5 entries into the draw. I’ll announce the winner on the blog on the evening of May 29th. Leave me a comment on this post telling me how many of the qualifying actions you’ve completed (1 comment with the number of entries is all that’s required) and you’re entered. Note my comments are moderated, so it may not show up immediately, don’t worry.

Here are the ways to enter:

• Subscribe to rss feed: http://www.internalmonoblog.com/feed/
• Friend me on daily mile: http://bit.ly/leG0MV
• Like the RoadID page on facebook and tell them Internalmonoblog.com sent you: http://on.fb.me/jrO3Lm If you already like the page, just leave a note on the wall saying I sent you back to the page.
• Follow me on twitter: @ryazwinski
• And finally, if you have a blog: post a contest announcement there and send me the link for an extra entry

In order to see the comment box, you need to open this post by clicking on the post title or clicking on the “comments link” under the title. I’m looking at how to make this easier, but for now bear with me.

Good luck and train hard!