Wiper 'Blades'

I wear glasses. I have worn them since grade 12. My vision isn't awful by any means and I can see perfectly well close up without them. It's distance that I have trouble with. Things start looking a little fuzzy about a metre away and they are pretty much unrecognizable in the distance.

As in 'is that a person walking with their dog?' 'where?' 'right up there on the left, by the corner' 'what corner?' 'by the big tree!'

'oh, you mean the no parking sign with the garbage can beside it?'

'um...yes.'

So I wear glasses all the time. Not because I need them all the time, mostly because I really really don't like not being able to see things clearly. Not being able to recognize people at a distance, not being able to read street signs and not knowing if it's a dog or a garbage can - there is something about not being able to see clearly that makes me very uncomfortable.

My eyes are also really sensitive to light and I'm constantly squinting and tearing up when I'm outside. This is a bit of a problem, particularly in the summer, with all the cycling and running I do. I need sunglasses and I always want prescription sunglasses so that I can see.

Problem is that those cool-looking glasses that a lot of runners/cyclists wear don't usually come with a prescription lens option. There are some where you can pay hundreds and hundreds for prescription lenses and there are some that let you put a prescription lens in behind the regular lens. But the prescription options are so expensive that they have never been an option. The last time I got new glasses, I bought the biggest pair I could find and I put transition lenses in them so that they would darken when I was outside. They do the trick (sort of) but they don't go high enough to stop the sun from sneaking in up over the top of the frames - especially when I'm cycling.  So I squint all the time and get headachy by the end.

Last week I decided that I wanted to try the sports glasses. I'm not even sure that they're called but they look like this.

When we are at the bike shop last week I tried on a few pair. I quickly discovered two things. They sit beautifully right against my eyebrows and effectively prevent any sunlight from coming in over the top. Perfect! The other thing I discovered, well not discovered but was reminded of, was that I have really really long eyelashes. 

Not quite this long but close!

I'm not complaining - it's nice to have long lashes but they do get in the way when buying glasses. I tried on a few pair of the sunglasses that actually pushed against my lashes enough to make my eyeballs hurt. Weird but true. After a few failed attempts I found one pair that fit well, looked ok AND didn't push my lashes into my brain. So I bought them to try. 

I gave them two test runs on the weekend. Saturday,  they went cycling. It was very weird at first to not be able to read street signs until I was a metre or so away from them but I chose a route that I knew so I wouldn't have to think too much about where I was going. I could see well enough to spot anything on the road I should avoid and was able to tell the difference between a car and a tree. As for blocking the sun, they worked really well, were quite comfortable and kept the blinding sun from sneaking in over, under or on the sides. Fabulous!

Sunday morning, they went running. A few of the garbage cans in the distance did look like dogs but I'm getting used to not being able to see 100%. The run went well but it was hot and very humid. Very very humid. Halfway through the run I stopped for water and a few edisks. I pulled off my glasses to wipe my face and noticed that the glasses were all fogged up. Weird, they hadn't seemed foggy when I was running with them. I held them up to my face and laughed out loud all by myself on a country road. 

My eyelashes had been fluttering against the lenses the entire time and had kept my field of vision completely clear of fog. 

I have my own built-in wipers!

Swim Master

Last Friday, as I was leaving the pool after my swim, I heard someone call my name.

It was my friend Nancy and she was in the other half of the pool. The half where there were only two people in the water and one person on the side of the pool. I had wondered what was happening on the empty side of the pool and was about to find out.

"We're doing a free Masters class!" she announced.

"What???"

To celebrate the opening of our new aquatic centre, and probably to drum up some business, there was free swimming offered for the entire first week. That meant that I could get free lane swimming in before work and didn't have to buy my new 3-month pass until July 10th.

What I didn't realize was that at the new pool there was going to be a Masters swim program for swimmers who want to work with a coach to improve their stroke, increase their speed and even get ready for competition. What I also didn't realize was that the Masters lessons were free for the first week. Damn.

Luckily the free week included this past Monday (to make up for the Canada Day holiday last Monday) so, on Monday morning, I headed to the pool and met the swim coach. Her name is Christine Arsenault and, less than a year ago, she swam across Lake Ontario. Fifty-four kilometres in 22 hours and 33 minutes.

I'm guessing she knows a thing or two about swimming.

Four people, including yours truly, showed up on Monday morning. A young guy of 18, another guy who looked a little younger than me and a woman. Within a minute she had us all in the pool. Young guy was told to do a 400m warm up. Other guy and other girl were told to do a 200m warmup. Christine asked me how much I swim and I told her that I do 2000m three time a week. I was told to do a 400m warmup.

Gulp.

I did that and then she handed me a pull buoy.

I was told to put it between my legs and then swim 400m just using my arms. "It keeps you from kicking" she said in response to my puzzled look. (I didn't think now was the time to tell her that getting me to kick is the challenge). 

After that, I was told to do 200m with the flutter board. Kickkickkickkickkickkickkick...

Then she gathered us around and explained that we were going to work on our speed. Other guy and other girl were told to swim 150m as fast as they could. They would repeat this three times. 

Young guy and I were told to swim 200m five times. We had to use the big swim clock on the wall (which I have never paid attention to before) and she wanted me to finish every 200m in under 4 minutes. Fifteen seconds rest and repeat. 

Before I started, she said that I had to swim as hard and as fast as I could so it would be a good idea if I kicked. So I launched into the first 200m like a madwoman. Back and forth back and forth four times. "Three minutes and 48 seconds! Awesome" she yelled as I gasped my way to the edge. 

"Ok go!"

Seriously?

The second 200m were a little harder and I finished in 4:09. "You slowed down. Don't slow down. You have to push yourself" she said in the fifteen seconds before she yelled "Go!" again. 

I finished the next one in 3:58 and the last one in 4:00 exactly. The last 50 metres she walked up and down the side of the pool waving her arms and yelling at me to go faster. 

At the end she asked how I felt. I told her I was out of breath but otherwise ok. 

"Then you didn't push hard enough" was the answer I got. 

I had two thoughts at that moment: Omigod I love this woman and omigod she's going to kill me. 

I was there for an hour and, including warm up and cool down, I swam 2200m. My legs felt tired for the first time ever during a swim and my shoulders definitely got a workout. 

Looks like I might be signing up for the Masters group. 

The clincher? I got out of the pool and she immediately spotted my infusion site. "Hey, you have an insulin pump?" Yep, that would explain the juice box next to my flip-flops. "I was wondering who brought that." End of discussion. No, you have diabetes are you sure you should be doing this? Just acceptance and a 'see you on Wednesday!'. 

Outtakes

• I told someone at work that I did a Masters swim class that morning and they responded with: "Masters? Isn't that for old people?"
• When I went to pick up my prescriptions after work, my pharmacist asked what was new. I told him I started a Masters swim class. "You're doing a Masters in swimming? - good for you!" No, not a Masters in swimming, I'm doing a Masters swim class at the new pool. "Oh, you want to be a lifeguard?"

I think they may need to change the name...

An Exercise in RPMs

Last week I asked what the logical, mathematical, physics-based answer was for how to get faster on the bike: cycle in a harder gear or cycle at a faster cadence (i.e. revolutions per minute: rpm).

The answers I received (all two of them) were unanimous. Cycle in a higher rpm.

Okey dokey.

This past weekend was a little crazy as we juggled dinners out, Ragtime at Shaw, volunteering for Hospice and hosting a baby shower so we had to squeeze our runs and bike rides in where we could.

I managed to find time on Saturday evening so I headed out on my own for a 30k ride. My goal(s): see if I can get to 90rpm and, if I can, maintain it for as long as possible.

The first few kilometres were tricky as I tried to get out of the city. There are so many stop lights and stop signs that it's hard to get any speed at all before you have to slow down again. But, once I made the final turn onto Third Avenue, the road stretched out in front of me.

Now or never.

I started pedalling quickly...and quickly noticed that getting to 90rpm isn't as hard as I thought it might be. In no time I was doing 100rpm. Ok, switch gears, keep going. Still doing 95rpm. Switch again, 90rpm and holding. Speed: 30km/hour.

Within less than a minute.

That, my friends, was pretty compelling proof. Start in an easier gear, get my legs spinning and then keep changing gears until I find the one that keeps me at 90rpm. Cycle on.

My ride had several long flat stretches that let me practice this new trick. The long stretches were broken up by trips up and down the escarpment and stop signs.

During my ride I learned that cycling at a higher rpm:

• doesn't automatically make me go faster but it makes it easier to get to speeds I normally struggle to get to.
• is easier than I thought it would be but my legs were pretty tired by the end. It will take some practice to be able to maintain a fast rpm for an entire ride.
• seems to affect my blood sugar differently. I was a lot lower than I thought I would be after that ride. It will take a few more rides to know for sure but I may have to adjust my diabetes routine if this was any indication.

Best part of the ride? When I was able to hit 35 km/hour on a flat stretch of road while cycling into a headwind. I can hit 30 km/hour but I have never, EVER, reached 35 km/hour without the help of a downhill or a tailwind to push me along.

There is hope for this girl yet!

A Real Pain in the Neck

When I cycle, I'm not one of those who easily or comfortably leans forward. I don't tend to get as low as I can in order to be as aerodynamic as possible. Partly because I'm not a particularly bendy person (at least I don't bend particularly easily into that position) and I feel rather off balance as soon as I lean forward too much (although I am trying to get better at that part). 

So I sit up. Not upright like I'm sitting on a chair but probably more upright than a lot of cyclists do. 

That is not a problem most of the time (other than I'm sure it slows me down a bit) but it becomes a problem as soon as I'm on the bike for more than about 40k. That's about the time when the pain starts at the back of my neck and begins radiating out into my shoulders. Once it starts, it doesn't stop until I get off the bike and stretch. And don't get back on again for a day or two. 

I'm guessing this is going to become an issue as I try to cycle longer distances. 

So I took the bull by the horns (or perhaps the Trek by the handle bars?) and I headed over to our local bike shop. I needed a few things anyway and, while I was there, I asked the nice guy at the counter about my shoulder/neck pain. 

Kyle, as it turns out, is the guy who sizes (fits?) bikes and people. He asked what kind of bike I had and immediately suggested that my handle bars were too low.  Apparently this is a fairly common problem with Trek road bikes (who knew?). 

Next Friday, the 13th, my bike and I have a date with Kyle. We're going to be sized, measured and adjusted so that we work well together. We already get along fairly well but I'm looking forward to seeing whether a little couples therapy helps us work out the kinks. Because my bike can be a real pain in the neck sometimes...

Kiwanis Aquatic Centre

Our new pool is open!

The opening ceremonies were held on Tuesday evening so Doug and I headed over after work to check out the place. The place in question is the new Kiwanis Aquatic Centre which boasts a big bright new branch for our public library and two new pools (an 8-lane 25m pool and a leisure pool). Construction delays, problems and pool battles were forgotten as car after car pulled into the parking lot of our newest community gathering place.

And that's exactly how it felt the moment we walked in - this is a community gathering place. Families, kids, teenagers, adults, groups and individuals - everyone was there. Including my friend, and 2011 Global Hero, John. Big hugs all around as we talked about the new pool, about his son heading to University and about when exactly summer starts. Doug insisted that it started about five minutes ago while John and I agreed that it started back in May and it's already half done. Either way, the pool looked very inviting and I couldn't wait to jump in.

Wednesday morning, I hopped in the car ten minutes earlier than I normally would have and drove all the way across town. It took just under ten minutes to get there - not bad! I pulled in to find the parking lot already busy. Our old pool used to have three lifeguards and that was it. Now, there were four (perhaps five?) lifeguards on duty, two employees at the front desk, a cleaning crew and (gasp!) a security guard. All at 5:45am.

I found our fancy new locker room and all my swimming friends were there. We were all excited to get back into the water after almost two weeks off. We spent the first few minutes getting our bearings in the new space. Where are the showers? Where can we put our stuff? Did you bring a lock for the lockers (we never locked anything up at the old pool)? Are you bringing your towel out to the pool area? Look how big the mirror is!

We made our way out to the pool and the lifeguard explained that we have four of the eight lanes for lane swimming (down from 6 at our old pool). The other half of the pool seemed to be reserved for some sort of master class swimming with a personal coach. Only one swimmer was there so they really had a lot of space to move. We were a little crammed with only four lanes and, as far as I could tell, all the swimmers there were from the old pool. Once new people start discovering this place, they may have to consider giving us a few more lanes. For now though, it seems ok.

Overall, the pool is quite nice. I'll have to get used to having a lifeguard on each end of the pool who stands right at the edge rather than sit in a chair. I'll have to get used to the fact that there is no place to put your stuff (other than on the floor) in the showers, that you can't control the water temperature and that the shower is on a one-minute timer so the water keeps turning itself off.

Two suggestions I had for front desk on the way out:
1. install large clocks by the pool so people can tell what time it is.
2. put garbage cans in the washrooms so ladies with their periods don't have to walk out of the stall, wander around the washroom and finally wander around the locker room searching for somewhere to put their garbage. Because that can be rather annoying...just saying.

Other than that - I'm all set to jump back into the water on Friday morning!

Faster or Harder?

I have a question for all you fine cycling folks out there. And for you folks who might not cycle but who understand the fine art of it. Oh, and you folks who don’t cycle, don’t know much about cycling but might just want to hazard a guess for fun.

Here is my question: what will make me go faster on the bike?

And no Erin, the answer is not ‘stop gripping the brakes when you go downhill!’.

See, here’s the thing. I’m working hard to get stronger and faster on the bike and I’m also working hard to understand how exactly one does that. My original thinking was that, in order to get faster, I needed to get stronger. So I always try to put my bike in a fairly hard gear, a gear with lots of resistance. I figured that forcing myself to pedal with increased resistance would build muscle, therefore make me faster.

It seems to have worked for hills, at least a little bit. I’ve noticed in the past few weeks that I’m catching up to and even passing people when we get to a hill. But on the flats, I’m still chasing people from the back of the pack. Nothing much seems to have changed and the gap between them and I doesn’t seem to be closing.  


And no, I am not willing to drop a few thousand dollars to buy a bike that weighs 6 ounces and is as streamlined as a shark. Nor am I willing to wear one of those crazy space helmets that the really fast guys wear in races. 

I mean really, does the seconds this thing shaves off your time really make it worth the looks you're gonna get when you wear it? 

That's when I recalled a conversation I had with Ian probably over a year ago now. Ian cycles with us on Sundays AND he works at the local bike shop so he knows most of the cool kids in town. He was telling me about the fast cyclists he works with. He said that they kept their cadence (ie. the number of times their feet do a complete circle while pedalling) at 90-100 rpm (revolutions per minute). He said that they just keep changing gears in order to maintain that magic 90 rpm number.


So it's not about pedalling as hard as you can but more about pedalling pretty much as fast as you can? 

That would mean that they have their bikes in a lower gear than I do (or they have superhuman leg muscles) because 90 revolutions per minute is pretty damn fast. I typically do 60ish rpm in the second or third hardest gear on the bike. When going up hills, I try to stay on the big ring (unless it’s a really steep escarpment climb) and I promise you that I am doing nowhere near 60 rpm going uphill.

Doug and I had a long chat on the weekend about cycling speed. He agrees with Ian's higher rpm logic and also agrees with my current practice of working in the harder gears. But neither of us are sure if there is some magic number I should be working towards. Do I go down to easier gears and get used to cycling at a higher rpm and then, once I can do that, start trying to do it in the harder gears? That's the part we can't figure out.

So my friends, what should I be working on? Is a higher rpm the secret? Is keeping it in a harder gear to build muscle strength the secret? Do I need to work on both so that I can someday maintain high rpm at a high gear? Are there speed or hill workouts I should be doing?  

I am the young grasshopper looking to poach some wisdom off those who have gone before me.

All My Eggs in Three Baskets

I had a wee bit of an epiphany on the weekend. I'm not sure if it's possible to have a wee bit of an epiphany or whether one must have an epiphany in its entirety but I had something.

Here's how it went.

On Friday afternoon, I came home from work, hopped on my bike and cycled 30k in the scorching heat and oppressive humidity. Why? Because I felt like it. I left the house, made up my route as I went along and I threw in the big ol' hill on 9th just for fun.

On Saturday morning, I ran 10k. Why 10? Because I felt like it.

After the swim, Doug and I hopped in the car and drove to Welland so I could meet up with Janice, Erin and Klari for an open water swim. We (well they) jumped in (I lowered myself gingerly) and we swam to the buoy and back as many times as we felt like swimming. Then we got back in the car and headed back home again. We figure we swam about a kilometre.

Sunday, we went cycling with the Runners' Edge group and logged almost 40k. Up and down hills, down long straight fast stretches and into unrelenting headwinds.

Lots of activity and lots of variety in a few short days.

And I feel fine. I have energy and, more importantly, nothing hurts.

That's when I had my mini-epiphany.

Last summer, I was marathon training. Which means that running was pretty much all I was doing except for our Sunday morning rides which were supposed to help with recovery but were absolutely exhausting after Saturday's long runs. I remember having to second guess whether or not to wear sandals when Doug and I were going to see a play last summer because we might have to walk a few blocks and my shins were so beat up that I wasn't sure I could walk any distance without my running shoes on.

This past weekend, after three days (and almost 6 solid hours) of physical activity, I photographed a wedding. I was on my feet for four hours without a break and I wore my very flat, very unsupportive sandals the entire time. How did I feel the morning after? Fine. We're going to see a play on Friday and I've jokingly said that we can park as far away as we want from the theatre and I'm still wearing my sandals.

I apparently thrive on variety. My body loves it. It doesn't get worn down, it doesn't get beat up. It doesn't even mind doing more than one sport in one day. Nor does it really care if it gets a day off or not.

Last summer, I ran four days a week, cycled one and lived for the other two when I could have a break. This summer I'm looking for free hours before or after work every single day just to squeeze something in because it feels so good to move. Run three days a week, swim three days a week and now I'm trying to cycle three days a week. That's nine activities in seven days. Six if I take a rest day.

And I feel fine.

Perhaps there is a marathon in my future. But it's not this year. I'm too busy having fun, doing races, getting stronger and feeling good.

I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket again. It hurt too much when I dropped the basket. So I'm putting my eggs into three baskets and having a grand ol'time.

Oh, and just because I think it looks so cool, here's a photo I snapped of my favourite camera bag while I was shooting the wedding on the weekend.