Here we are, where we left off last night. The border at this time of day is pretty sparse, and even with only 1 lane open there was a mere single car ahead of us. Welcome to Canada, land of OMFG It Was Late and I Was Tired and I Needed to Sleep:
At 1:30 I slept like a brick, which is an expression I have used all my life and which makes no sense. I can only imagine that if bricks are alive, they're in some state of permanent sleep. I hit the pillow (again, something I did not do) and crashed hard (again, did not crash into anything). I woke up once to pee but otherwise I was out like a lightbulb (leaving that one alone). I don't know who works at the Sleep Analagy Center, but they should be fired. I slept really well and woke up at 7:45. D was up, showered, and doing a bit of work:
We stayed the night in Montreal, at her parent's condo. @UtahJoe has been here once (or was it twice?) and it's a nice, centrally-located spot which allowed us to not have to drive another 90 minutes up to the cottage. Since we were in no rush, we decided to meet D's friend Tony for breakfast at Le Cartet. No idea what this word meant in the real world, but I got the Nordique, which is a word I have pretty much never heard in any context save for the Quebec hockey franchise that left many years ago. In fact, I was not aware it had any other meaning but I looked it up and apparently it means Scandinavian.
I have always been a fan of the NHL returning to Quebec City and after we went 2 years ago, I became a staunch supporter of this idea. But I never realized they were essentially the Quebec Scandinavians. I guess this is similar to the Minnesota Vikings. In any event, Tony needs to smile more. Tony & D went to McGill together.
And as it turns out, the Nordique was a great choice. This was excellent. I guess this is like Scandinavian Eggs Benedict?
We wrapped up breakfast around 10 then waled back to the condo and packed up. Pulled out of the parking garage at 10:41 and we got to the cottage at 12:25. We immediately sat down and ate lunch, which seemed to be stacked right on top of breakfast but in reality it was almost 3.5 hours later. Since we'd done nothing but sit then sit some more, neither of us was very hungry. We picked at the various things at the table then cleaned up and got ready for the afternoon.
Drove out to the lake where D's dad (henceforth known only as Opa, which is a Dutch/German word for "grandpa") keeps his boat. The dock is his younger brother's and this is where he has his cottage. Those of you not familiar with the Canadian way of life won't know this, but having a summer cottage is pretty much a thing here. While we say we are coming up to the cottage, this is really where D's parents live. The one on the lake here is not the same as where we stay, to clarify. We had lunch at their cottage (where you can see Tremblant from the back porch) then drove to Dickie's cottage to use the boat.
JIA YOU!
Zac tried to water ski a dozen times and got maybe the 7th and 12th right. Then D tried going right for 1 ski and failed twice. Then she took the second ski and got right up. After maybe 10 seconds she kicked off the ski and went uni-skiing as Zac later called it. She looped the lake on 1 foot while we watched. This is the first time she has done this in 2 years and was solid out there. Simon got on the knee board but he is not quite strong enough so it was basically a "prone abdominal" board for him.
Yes, there's a fire hydrant on this rock outcropping. It's just a warning.
After the boat we went over to the visitor center and jumped on the bikes with the kids and did a ~45 minute loop which included some man-made stuff like a hybrid pump track/dirt jump area with like 8 piles of dirt and almost zero design, then a little skills area with a bunch of skinnies and logs and rocks and a teeter-totter, then a few solid drop sections, then finally a nice little loop on dirt to round out the day. Fun little loop and I'll try to get back out before we leave. As we drove over here all I wanted to to was crawl into the woods and sleep. After we were done I felt better however.
Came back to the Cottage and jumped in the hot tub, then showered up and had dinner. It's now 8:00 as I sit here writing this sentence and everyone else is playing Up & Down the River. Typically I avoid card games because I enjoy the down time to relax. My tooth was not in excruciating pain today but it has been really sensitive all day. So a few times I would bite down on something and it would scream in pain, then subside within 30 seconds. Today is day 3 on antibiotic and it's getting better, but it's still a real beast to have to deal with. Thankfully it did not destroy my solid, brick-like (not really) sleep last night but I'm still a little nervous about it. In any event, I am enjoying the down time right now,
After cards it'll be iPad Hour for the kids, then we'll read and go to bed. Tomorrow's plan is TBD.
Took some down time tonight to read Cryptonomicon. Currently page 211 of 910. I’ll put the over/under at Thanksgiving.
Posting early. Exhausted right now. Hello Brick Log Land!
Viewer Mail
@Magic - to me 2:30 is a good time to race on a day like this. Waking up will be brutal and you'll have a bunch of time between arrival and your race to figure out your shit. We can talk about Game Day Prep later but I have been pretty shitty in my race warmup/prep lately. Often times I plan to race but then it's 20 minutes before and my routine window is gone. Anyway, point being that you should get your routine in-line and with a 2:30 start you'll have lots of time to use it that day.
@vanseggern1 - I do not believe in burnout as "a thing". I think it is a generic term used to describe a handful of different things that people do wrong. Like how 200 years ago people who died of no reason were said to die of Consumption? It's like that. I have my different theories on this and I believe there are 4 different things at play here:
1. Mental anguish - this comes in many forms but being dedicated to racing is a lot of mental strain. I think people get tired of it and the psychosomatic effect of hating something expresses itself physically at times. Not at play here for me.
2. Lack of proper rest - while I do think that over-racing will exacerbate this, I think people get addicted to feeling good and forget to rest enough. While I have been adding lots of volume and online races, I have been resting plenty. In my 6 weeks of training so far I have at least 2 days of rest/easy each week, with the exception of the rest week where I had 5. I am making sure I rest properly, so again I think not at play here.
3. The 3rd is a pet theory I have which is that during the summer people sweat a ton and there is an accumulation effect of electrolyte losses. I think people burnout physically at the end of summer which often coincides with the hottest and most draining weather of the year. I don't have any scientific evidence to back this, nor have I looked. I just feel like the massive sweating and associated electrolyte losses add up for some people over time. This is an actual threat to me, which I just try to balance by hydrating with GU Tablets on the bike. It may also be total bullshit in which case I have nothing to worry about. It'll be cool soon enough.
4. People have really bad nutritional habits when it comes to hard work & racing. I think the vast majority of people don't do this right. Huge mistake, IMO.
I also have a lot of years of riding now so I know how I work, and how training works, and how to balance things. I will also say that WFH allows me more rest since I don't have to commute 3+ hours a day like in years past nor do I have to sit in an office which can be less than comfortable.
Here's 1 more aspect to the racing from September 9th through December 13th. Don't do 2 cross races every weekend. Also, you don't need to race every weekend. Point #2 from above - lack of proper rest. Looking at this from a coach's perspective, I hate double cross weekends because day #2 is often times adding on junk miles/fatigue to a good race effort. It's sort of the definition of throwing bad money after good. It does not cause much discernable training effect and it delays your recovery/growth by a day.
From a racer perspective, a double weekend can be fun as hell and if you pull off a great race on day 2 it can boost your morale a bunch.
@seanrunnette - I phoned a friend and the answer to that question is, maybe. I just want you to know 2 things. First, I really don't poetry. Second, I tried to read Trout Fishing in America some years ago and I thought it was garbage. So we are not spooning with a trout, if that's what you were thinking.
@2Julianas - I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy being able to consume more due to riding more. Food is good food.
At 1:30 I slept like a brick, which is an expression I have used all my life and which makes no sense. I can only imagine that if bricks are alive, they're in some state of permanent sleep. I hit the pillow (again, something I did not do) and crashed hard (again, did not crash into anything). I woke up once to pee but otherwise I was out like a lightbulb (leaving that one alone). I don't know who works at the Sleep Analagy Center, but they should be fired. I slept really well and woke up at 7:45. D was up, showered, and doing a bit of work:
We stayed the night in Montreal, at her parent's condo. @UtahJoe has been here once (or was it twice?) and it's a nice, centrally-located spot which allowed us to not have to drive another 90 minutes up to the cottage. Since we were in no rush, we decided to meet D's friend Tony for breakfast at Le Cartet. No idea what this word meant in the real world, but I got the Nordique, which is a word I have pretty much never heard in any context save for the Quebec hockey franchise that left many years ago. In fact, I was not aware it had any other meaning but I looked it up and apparently it means Scandinavian.
I have always been a fan of the NHL returning to Quebec City and after we went 2 years ago, I became a staunch supporter of this idea. But I never realized they were essentially the Quebec Scandinavians. I guess this is similar to the Minnesota Vikings. In any event, Tony needs to smile more. Tony & D went to McGill together.
And as it turns out, the Nordique was a great choice. This was excellent. I guess this is like Scandinavian Eggs Benedict?
We wrapped up breakfast around 10 then waled back to the condo and packed up. Pulled out of the parking garage at 10:41 and we got to the cottage at 12:25. We immediately sat down and ate lunch, which seemed to be stacked right on top of breakfast but in reality it was almost 3.5 hours later. Since we'd done nothing but sit then sit some more, neither of us was very hungry. We picked at the various things at the table then cleaned up and got ready for the afternoon.
Drove out to the lake where D's dad (henceforth known only as Opa, which is a Dutch/German word for "grandpa") keeps his boat. The dock is his younger brother's and this is where he has his cottage. Those of you not familiar with the Canadian way of life won't know this, but having a summer cottage is pretty much a thing here. While we say we are coming up to the cottage, this is really where D's parents live. The one on the lake here is not the same as where we stay, to clarify. We had lunch at their cottage (where you can see Tremblant from the back porch) then drove to Dickie's cottage to use the boat.
JIA YOU!
Zac tried to water ski a dozen times and got maybe the 7th and 12th right. Then D tried going right for 1 ski and failed twice. Then she took the second ski and got right up. After maybe 10 seconds she kicked off the ski and went uni-skiing as Zac later called it. She looped the lake on 1 foot while we watched. This is the first time she has done this in 2 years and was solid out there. Simon got on the knee board but he is not quite strong enough so it was basically a "prone abdominal" board for him.
Yes, there's a fire hydrant on this rock outcropping. It's just a warning.
After the boat we went over to the visitor center and jumped on the bikes with the kids and did a ~45 minute loop which included some man-made stuff like a hybrid pump track/dirt jump area with like 8 piles of dirt and almost zero design, then a little skills area with a bunch of skinnies and logs and rocks and a teeter-totter, then a few solid drop sections, then finally a nice little loop on dirt to round out the day. Fun little loop and I'll try to get back out before we leave. As we drove over here all I wanted to to was crawl into the woods and sleep. After we were done I felt better however.
Came back to the Cottage and jumped in the hot tub, then showered up and had dinner. It's now 8:00 as I sit here writing this sentence and everyone else is playing Up & Down the River. Typically I avoid card games because I enjoy the down time to relax. My tooth was not in excruciating pain today but it has been really sensitive all day. So a few times I would bite down on something and it would scream in pain, then subside within 30 seconds. Today is day 3 on antibiotic and it's getting better, but it's still a real beast to have to deal with. Thankfully it did not destroy my solid, brick-like (not really) sleep last night but I'm still a little nervous about it. In any event, I am enjoying the down time right now,
After cards it'll be iPad Hour for the kids, then we'll read and go to bed. Tomorrow's plan is TBD.
Took some down time tonight to read Cryptonomicon. Currently page 211 of 910. I’ll put the over/under at Thanksgiving.
Posting early. Exhausted right now. Hello Brick Log Land!
Viewer Mail
@Magic - to me 2:30 is a good time to race on a day like this. Waking up will be brutal and you'll have a bunch of time between arrival and your race to figure out your shit. We can talk about Game Day Prep later but I have been pretty shitty in my race warmup/prep lately. Often times I plan to race but then it's 20 minutes before and my routine window is gone. Anyway, point being that you should get your routine in-line and with a 2:30 start you'll have lots of time to use it that day.
@vanseggern1 - I do not believe in burnout as "a thing". I think it is a generic term used to describe a handful of different things that people do wrong. Like how 200 years ago people who died of no reason were said to die of Consumption? It's like that. I have my different theories on this and I believe there are 4 different things at play here:
1. Mental anguish - this comes in many forms but being dedicated to racing is a lot of mental strain. I think people get tired of it and the psychosomatic effect of hating something expresses itself physically at times. Not at play here for me.
2. Lack of proper rest - while I do think that over-racing will exacerbate this, I think people get addicted to feeling good and forget to rest enough. While I have been adding lots of volume and online races, I have been resting plenty. In my 6 weeks of training so far I have at least 2 days of rest/easy each week, with the exception of the rest week where I had 5. I am making sure I rest properly, so again I think not at play here.
3. The 3rd is a pet theory I have which is that during the summer people sweat a ton and there is an accumulation effect of electrolyte losses. I think people burnout physically at the end of summer which often coincides with the hottest and most draining weather of the year. I don't have any scientific evidence to back this, nor have I looked. I just feel like the massive sweating and associated electrolyte losses add up for some people over time. This is an actual threat to me, which I just try to balance by hydrating with GU Tablets on the bike. It may also be total bullshit in which case I have nothing to worry about. It'll be cool soon enough.
4. People have really bad nutritional habits when it comes to hard work & racing. I think the vast majority of people don't do this right. Huge mistake, IMO.
I also have a lot of years of riding now so I know how I work, and how training works, and how to balance things. I will also say that WFH allows me more rest since I don't have to commute 3+ hours a day like in years past nor do I have to sit in an office which can be less than comfortable.
Here's 1 more aspect to the racing from September 9th through December 13th. Don't do 2 cross races every weekend. Also, you don't need to race every weekend. Point #2 from above - lack of proper rest. Looking at this from a coach's perspective, I hate double cross weekends because day #2 is often times adding on junk miles/fatigue to a good race effort. It's sort of the definition of throwing bad money after good. It does not cause much discernable training effect and it delays your recovery/growth by a day.
From a racer perspective, a double weekend can be fun as hell and if you pull off a great race on day 2 it can boost your morale a bunch.
@seanrunnette - I phoned a friend and the answer to that question is, maybe. I just want you to know 2 things. First, I really don't poetry. Second, I tried to read Trout Fishing in America some years ago and I thought it was garbage. So we are not spooning with a trout, if that's what you were thinking.
@2Julianas - I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy being able to consume more due to riding more. Food is good food.
