Life in the Fox Den

Alls well that ends well

So Alex and I got into it a bit tonight.  He is flexing his "tween wings" and I am "lowering the boom"  no chance of conflict there right.  No need to get into the details it is nothing earth shattering it is just what we all did, exert our individuality and assert ourselves, just part of growing up.  I was cranky and not coming out of it well.  I told him to go practice his piano.

He did just that, I was so moved I had to share it.  Just one little snippet of a song, but I think he sounds amazing and I wanted to share and to let him know I am very proud of him.

The old fashioned look was just me goofing around, I didn't think I could just add a sound byte plus I didn't have anyway to record just the sound so I thought this would work just fine.

Neighbourhood Touring - Training April 8th and other other miscellaneous tidbits

I had planned last night to get up early get moving and go for a good ride while Piper was in pre-school.  Great plan.

I woke up this morning and hit snooze on the alarm clock twice, I never hit snooze but this morning I was bagged.  Got up finally and got the kids moving, breakfast all around and set up for School.  The last thing I felt like doing was getting on my bike.  None the less, to me those are the days that you have to, so I did.

Piper and I hit the road at 8:25 am, it was about 1 C outside and overcast..........I was pretty much cold before I hit the end of the cul de sac. Off to Piper's school we go about 3.5 km a pretty easy ride.

I downloaded the mapmyride app for my blackberry and didn't really know what to expect but I fired it up anyway.  Pretty slick little tool, actually works on the GPS in my blackberry and tracks the ride, avg speed, elevation changes, top speed, bottom speed etc then launches back to your mapmyride.com profile.  I think I will use it more often.

Anyway back to the ride.  Dropped off Piper and the trailer at the pre school and headed off on this route.

It was relatively straight for km 1 through 4 then uphill till 9km point then flat for a couple then down so a pretty good little training ride.  I got back to the school at 9:30........guess that means another Lap so off I went again, the sun had come out and it was a good ride.  Wind picked up at the top of the hill a bit, I could do without the wind, I don't mind hills but wind just sucks.  Anyway cruised on up to the school and was still almost 40 minutes early.  Thought about another lap but wasn't sure I could make it and not be late.  So what the hell, Starbucks is only 3km away, time enough for a medium latte and then back, it was a nice treat.

Anyway according to the mapmyride app on my bberry it was a total of 36.7km including bringing Piper to school and back.  I nice little ride.  One thing, there is a hell of a difference in pulling the trailer and not, good training to pull the trailer but it was nice not to have it this time around. 

Picking up the road bike today and dropping off my mountain bike so that will be a switch for sure.  No ride tonight though, suppose to be 90km/h gusts of wind........not a chance :)

Very odd thing on my tour of the neighbourhood.  Right in the middle of suburbia is this farm????  I dunno why its there, but I didn't know it was...........never had a reason to go down that area before.  But there it is you come around the corner the area opens up on the left and there it sits.  Only thing I can figure is the guy didn't want to sell when the developer was building.  It looked out of place to me, but meh............what do I know.

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Nothing else really exciting today.

Quiet day at home, get the laundry done, do some cleanup, a little painting with Piper.  Now the boys will be getting home and time to take Alex down to Shouldice for his swimming.  He is quite the little star in swimming (ok well maybe just to me) but he advanced up a level last time and competed with 6 other boys in 800m swim and was first out of the 6.  He has taken to the swimming very very well and I am damn proud of him.

Drew has a T&T event this weekend (Tramp and Tumbling) I will try to get some decent pictures to post up but they frown on flashes during competition.

Tammy is working her tail off these days so we don't see much of her.  Hopefully she can hang on for 2 weeks and not burn herself out............then I whisk her away to parts unknown for our 20th wedding anniversary and her 40th bday.  She has an idea about where we are going..........I won't say she is wrong or right, but it should be a great 3 days.

As for me well, I am plugging away trying to get myself in shape for the ride and still lose some weight.  I am working on getting the yard spring ready...........need to pick up some fertilizer.  Going to have Al come by and try to get my thumb a little greener tomorrow so the beds don't look like a nuclear wasteland this summer. Other than that it is quiet.  Not necessarily a bad thing.

The Big Ride (So far)........Training April 6 - 36km and other miscellaneous daily activities

Today is Tuesday, otherwise known as crazy day in the Thompson house...........well for me anyway.

The day runs something like this

Get up with kids, get breakfast made for all three.  Never do they have the same thing is seems today it was

• Alex, Egg & Back Bacon Muffins - Apple Juice to Drink
• Drew, Hot Cereal (Apple and Cinnamon) - Milk to Drink
• Piper, English muffins with melted cheese - Water to Drink
• Papa, Open faced toasted muffin with poached eggs - Coffee to drink (Duh?)

Lunches for the boys and school snack for Piper

Alex out the door by 7:55

Drew out the door by 8:10

Piper and Papa out the door by 8:35 (don't forget to kennel Marley)

Today the boys were still on spring break so they were with me.

Drop off Piper and fire off a message to Tammy, "Grocery day, send me a list if you want something in particular"

Alex, Drew, and I off to Bow cycle to pick up the parts to fix the Hoss (my mountain bike - aptly named don't you think) then back to get Piper from preschool, off to the grocery store we go.  Sobey's where Piper is a minor celebrity (more on that later).

Home by 12:30, make lunch for the threesome (today was a nutritious meal of hot dogs and pineapple)

Get the groceries away, clean up the kitchen (breakfast and lunch dishes) head out to fix the bike (remove and install new crank, remove cleated pedals and put on clips), boys to practice piano.

Back in the house at 2 and start to figure out an early supper, switch Drew for Alex on the Piano and toss the dog out in the yard. 

Back in the house at 3 now supper, yup its early but either that or late as it is T&T (Tramp and Tumbling) night for Drew, and Swimming for Alex.  Supper down by 3:15 KD for Piper and Drew, Roast Chicken sandwiches for Alex (he hates KD).  Drop Tammy a note to be sure she is getting the boys and let her know I am going to go for a ride after I drop off the boys.

Drew to COP Gymnastics centre for 4pm and Alex at Shouldice pool for  4:30pm back home, get Piper and I ready to hit the road.  Snack, Leapster, Water, Pez, Sunglasses, Blanket for Piper.  Bike gear for me.  Phew and its only 5pm..............welcome to Tuesdays :)

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Today it was time to ramp up my distance a bit and see how the legs hold out.  I am not concerned about my cardiovascular conditioning for the ride.  I am blessed with a great cardiovascular system to this point in my life and that combined with the last three months of intense cardio I have been doing I am in great shape from that perspective to complete the ride.  The kicker is do I have the legs for it, seeing as all my training has been on the elliptical to this point I need to transition to bike to make sure my legs are into it.

I mapped out this little run for Piper and I to do. Ok I do all the doing Piper is there for moral support.

Sunny and warm the ride started out as, kilometres 1 through 6 were good and I was warming up nicely, the added weight of the trailer was noticeable but not tough at this point.  Turned west at the 6km point and the wind greeted me with a big blast of hello, now the trailer was noticeable, the wind was trying to push me back and the trailer was trying to pull.......not a good sign, did I mention it was uphill for the next 3 km as well?. My speed quickly dropped to between 9 and 11 km/h and would stay there for the next 3 km (about 20minutes).  All the while all I could think of was, what if we hit a big head wind heading out to Chain Lakes............man that will be a tough ride, not much in the way of wind breaks as I recall on that road.  Setting my cadence I resolved that this was the purpose of training rides and decided to just enjoy it and go for it.

After turning at the 9km point, the wind abated a bit and was now a cross wind so not nearly as bad also relatively flat for a few km and winding roads through Cody Range and Church Ranch........man there are some huge homes in there.  Very nice ride, kept the cadence up and was getting between 15 and 18 km/h.

At about 12.5 it was out onto Bearspaw rd and back into the wind with one big downhill followed by an equally large uphill.  The road comes out at Bearspaw restaurant and I hooked southeast towards town. Turning into the Bearspaw Country Club (I half expected to be accosted by private security) the area is gorgeous along the golf course and gentle ups and downs with bending side streets made for a greatly enjoyable part of the ride.  This was a pic I took at about the 15.5km point.

After that is was pretty much back country roads till I came back to Rocky Ridge road just south of Butterfield Acres (a local petting zoo/kids farm/day camp) cross Cross Country hills and down into Royal Oak for a 2km uphill, then straight through past the landfill to Beacon Hill shopping complex.............now I am getting a little tired, thinking about taking shortcuts to avoid hills on the way home.  Nothing doing though, I stick to the route and the plan.  I only have one issue that is the very last hill before turning onto my street right at the 32km mark, I am starting to get lactic acid buildup in my quads and they were screaming to shut down.  I almost got off and walked........almost, but it was only a few hundred meters so off we go like the little engine that could.  When I hit the top it was elation a huge deep breath...........just as a city bus passed me......just about puked from the diesel I had just sucked down to my toes.

Into the driveway and home, 2.5 hours, not too bad given the extra load and that I am using my mountain bike (Roady is in the shop till the 8th) oh and my passenger..........well she was a trooper, not a complaint and even said the ride was pretty in spots........."But maybe just a little long Papa, I ran out of Pez"

Lunch with Mom and Training Day #3 24km............or not April 5

It was the next to last day of spring break for the kids and although not exactly the warmest weather we (Alex, Drew, Piper and I) decided we should head down for lunch with Mom.  I called Tammy and asked if she could pick up Subway for the kids if we biked down to Prince's Island Park just behind her office.  It is a very nice little park on the island on the Bow River in the heart of down town Calgary.

We set off from the bottom of the hill from our place as I didn't think that it was a good idea for the boys to be blasting down a hill at 50km/h............more so I couldn't imagine how they would get up the 6km of steep incline.  Best to drive to the park and ride at the trailhead and go from there.  It was about an 18km round trip so 9 in and 9 back mostly flat so a good ride.

I talked to the boys about trail safety and off we went, I let Drew take the lead as with the smaller bike and less gearing I figure he would be the slowest. He actually set a pretty good pace for us at around 13.5km/h.  Here is the view from my seat.

Drew up Front

Alex holding the back of the line

We ended up being quite a bit earlier than I anticipated, seems the boys have a little more speed in them than I gave them credit for.  So we spent a little time playing in the playground while Tammy finished up a meeting and came out to join us.

It was nice to be able to bring the kids down, also quite frankly it was nice for me.  I have to say up until the last couple of months I have shunned downtown with a disdain reserved for things like Brussel Sprouts and Root Canals.  Seems the exercise and weather has changed my disposition somewhat.

I hope we can do it many many more times.  I plan on taking Piper down lots, only next time we will pack the lunch to bring to Mom, Piper and I both agree that would be much more special.  The weather is still a tad cool but getting better all the time, we will get there soon.  Then Tammy will be tired of seeing us.

I was a little worried about the ride back but the boys did great, there only complaint was their backsides were getting a little sore.  I think a couple of pairs of bike shorts are in order for the tender little rears if we are going to keep cycling around the city.

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Well good intentions on training today.

I blasted out of the house all set to do another 24km loop the same as yesterday.  Got a bit of an earlier start (Thanks Tammy) so it would all be in daylight, even planned to go a bit further.  Seems that my bike disagreed with me, I got to the bottom of a large sloping hill and coming up to the stop sign I noticed a warping in my left pedal.  Nothing huge and it came and went, figured I would check it when I got home.

Left the stop sign and stood to get it started and the left felt really wobbly, I got about another km down the road and decided to stop and have a look.  The pedal was very very loose in the crank and was obviously at least partially stripped as I couldn't even hand tighten it a bit.  I figure well I will try to limp it back home at this point.  Jumped back into the saddle (ok Jumped might be a stretch............gingerly climbed might be a better way to describe it).......SNAP off it came.  No pedal, and I don't think I was much of a one legged rider so I grabbed my phone and called in my rescue vehicle.

Seems my preparation was good for a change, I have a list of things I do before I head out.

1. I print two copies of my route maps (mapmyride.com is a great resource) - one for me and one I post on the fridge so Tammy knows where to send the EMS if I don't report back.
2. I make sure my phone is charged and bring it
3. I check over the bike, air pressure, chain, cables brakes etc just to be sure
4. Make sure my flashers and lights are functional

I called Tammy and she was able to find me right away.  So my roadside wait was not too long, nor did I have to walk back. 

I will now add to my list checking the tightness of my pedals, seems that even a bit loose and that little wobble under the tremendous amount of pressure can quickly strip out the inside of the crank.

Training Day #2 34km......April 4

Actually two for today. I did 10km with the kids today..........while not a work out at cadence I did have the chariot hooked up and Piper as my rider plus it was another hour and a half in the saddle.

At this point I figure that will be my biggest issue, getting my backside ready for what I assume will be around 5 hours in the saddle.

The real ride for the day was a a 24km trek with some half decent elevation changes, around 250 meters of ascents and descents. This time the downhill was at the front end of the loop, man I forgot how fast 50km/h feels like on a mountain bike........oh and how cold my feet get at 3c and 50km/h.

One thing I noticed today was my cadence is pretty fast, I am going to have to check what the common conceptions are on cadence on long rides.

Of the last 11km the first 8 of it was the uphill on the back end of the ride. Two differences from yesterday one the ascents where in the last half of the ride and two I chose a route that I knew was all pavement. So the 24km I managed in 83 minutes, a fair improvement over the 20km yesterday in 76 minutes a pickup of about 1.3km/h nothing serious.

My downhills and flats will improve when I switch to my roady, but I am little concerned about the hill climbing with a lower gear ratio so that will be interesting.

Did this ride after the kids where in bed so I did the first part at dusk and after that it was somewhat dark. I had my reflective coat on and my LED flashers going but on the uphill I took to the sidewalk as I had no headlights......have to go to Bow and pick some up and another flasher.

Trying to convince my friend to join me for the ride, well maybe two.......they are both in warmer climates at the moment but I will hound them more thoroughly when they get back to Calgary.

The ride with the kids today was great, it was funny at the end they asked me how far we went. I said 10.4km.......Alex looks at me and says "You are going to do 100km in one day......ten times what we just did.......Papa, I think sometimes you just might be crazy" Gotta love him, and he is probably half right. It was great to ride with them, even if my passenger her royal highness Piper slept in the chariot for 90% of the ride the boys did great, road safe and didn't complain. Cant ask for much more than that.

Catch you on the next ride.

Training Day number 1, April 3 19.6km

Well it is April 3rd and I figured I should get out on my bike and do my first real ride of the season to see how I feel being back in the saddle.

I had to take my mountain bike as the good people of Bow Cycle currently have my road bike in for some much needed maintenance.

I picked what I thought would be a reasonable distance with little to no elevation changes.............call me chicken but hey it is the first ride.

So I mapped out a 19.6km circuit and proceeded on my way.

First thing I noticed was the wind.........we had 30 to 40km gusts today and it was around 5 degrees. Hmmmmmm oh well only 20k and no big hills right.........not so ended up I had a wack of hills and after the first 5km I ended up on gravel roads (so much for planning) all in all I am glad I had the mountain bike because the tires on my roady would have taken a beating and made this a much more challenging ride.

And hills hell the whole first 15km seemed uphill.
Here are is a link to halfway up a particularly cranky hill with the wind in my face
Looking up the rest



Down to where it started

In the end it was not a bad ride the first 15k was challenging the last 4 and a bit was somewhat rolling and relaxing through some back country paved roads. Did the entire run in 75min so averaged about 15km/h with a pretty intense amount of elevation. Have to say I am pretty happy with that. I pick up my roady this week and will get another ride or two in this week on it to see if I can up the speed a little.

Fund-raising has been a way better start than I expected and I thank all my contributers for taking an interest and opening their wallets and their hearts. My thanks to you all, I am looking forward to riding for all of you. Not sure who if any will read but I will track my rides and progress and whatever else of interest that might be worth writing and go from there.

I have a couple things to pick up for the overnight and the ride but other than some practice I am pretty much set.

Ok now I am in better shape............Now what

All this exercise and weight loss, seems I should celebrate it somehow.  But how?

Well I would like to take credit for a great idea but it wasn't mine, I stole it from a friend.  Seems that Kirsty was pondering the idea of joining the 2010 200km Alberta Ride to Conquer Cancer.  Well before I could think of a good reason not to do it (its damn far, I am old, $2,500 is the minimum fund raising requirement, etc etc.........did I mention far?) I had myself signed up.

So on June 26 and 27th I will take part in a 200km event. Here is the anticipated route.

Effectively from Spruce Meadows at the south end of Calgary out to Chain Lakes Provincial Park then overnight then get up and come back.

The event itself is pretty impressive and what a better way to do something good for myself by doing something to hopefully help others.

As many out there I have been impacted by cancer in my family many times over.  The odds are staggering that you will get some form of cancer in your lifetime so participating in a fund raiser to help find a cure and doing something fun and healthy is all good.

While I have met my fund raising goal there is always room for one or two more so here is a shameless plug for my donations page.  Every little bit goes a long way.

I have already started my training for the ride and will post my progress and a few pictures as I go.

The Start of Something Good .............. I hope

Lets see how do we start this one.

291lbs, chronic aching back, low energy, edgy and generally unhappy.  That kind of sums it all up.

A far cry from competing in my first Triathlon in 2006 and being 236lbs and in great shape.  Life happens right?  We can't alway eat right.  Life is busy, who has time for ongoing exercise.  Oh and then there was the car accident after all can't be blamed for being sedentary with a dislocated shoulder, pulled ribs, and soft tissue damage in my back.  Oh and the Nachos.............god bless nachos and cold beer sheer bliss.  I can come up with bunch of other excuses but why bother, truth be told I just suck at taking good care of myself, I can get there just can't seem to stay there.

So at December 25, 2009 I was 291.6 lbs and looking lovely.

So it was time once again to go on a journey to get to a better place of health and well being.  Eat better, exercise get a sense physical well being and from there emotional well being.  So I call Jason at FitMetabolism.com (and yes that is a shameless plug) and its time to get back on plan.  So back to careful management of nutrition and exercise and get back to what I should be.  Then the tough part, learn to have maintenance and be able to maintain a level of good health.  Important for me, but more important for the kids.  I want them to have every advantage they can throughout their lives and starting now is the way to do it.  For Tammy too, after all with 20 years behind us I can't think of anyone else I want to spend the next 40 or 50 with.

So that was December 25 and it is now April 7th, and that picture doesn't even look like the same person.  I don't have another picture yet and in some ways I don't want it yet after all I still have a few lbs to go till the goal weight so I keep that picture here and on my Facebook page as a reminder of where I came from and where I want to go.

Brief Intro

A day in the life???

Tammy runs a blog that covers our lives and the family you can find it Here but from her perspective mostly and she has mentioned once in a while that I should take up one to give my perspective on things.  I finally decided to go ahead and make one.

It will be a convoluted tale about my life.  Which at the moment consists of my family, after all I am a stay at home dad right now.  So the kids are a big part of that (Alex, Andrew and Piper) but more on them as it happens.  Tammy and I of course although she is far more adept at putting those things together.  Should probably include the hound in that as well (Marley, our 1 year old LabraDoodle).  Also it will be about the training leading up to the 2010 200km Alberta Ride for Cancer. (but more on that later too)  My life changes to get in better physical shape will be part of it.

So basically it will be an endless diatribe of what is going on with me from my perspective, likely long on boring and short on creative. It may go on for months...........it may be a flash in the pan, but with all journeys they start with a step.  So this is the first step.