After Bill was such a fabulous host a while back, how could I resist?

Speaking with Bill on the phone the night before, it was hard not to notice his enthusiasm for running in Ottawa. He'd already seen the parliament buildings, run across the river, and down the canal. Hearing his joy, I remembered loving running those paths, back before I exiled my running to suburbia. Back when I ran.

The day had promised nothing but sunshine, but dark clouds were rolling in when I met Bill. Undeterred, we set off to expore eastwards, down the Ottawa River.

I've only met Bill twice, but I can tell you he's one of the easiest people to get along with that I've ever met. He's enthusiastic, laid back, is a geek, loves running, loves cycling, works in the same industry as me.... There was no shortage of things to talk about (though there may have been a shortage of breath - one of us was clearly in better shape!), and the miles flew by.

The downriver run is probably the least "pretty" of the 3 runs, but it's still fairly nice. I tried to play tour guide, pointing out the art gallery, the mint, Rideau falls, the prime minister's residence and Rideau Hall. Rather than being on the water, we were high above it, with important buildings overlooking the water.

As we crossed over Rideau falls, it started to rain. Within minutes, it was raining hard - a cool, drenching fall Canadian rain. Bill bore it stoically, and we looped around Rideau Hall before heading for home.

It was over all too quickly. 45 minutes, what the gmap pedometer called 7.4 km. And before I knew it, my exile to suburbia had been reinstated.

I can only thank Bill for the superb company (again!), and for reminding me how lucky I am to live here.

I ran on Sunday, for the first time in a while. I've been having problems with my right hamstring, and my last run hurt a fair bit, so I limited myself to 20 minutes. It wasn't too bad, but I forgot to stretch, and my quads have been sore ever since.

I'm trying to work out every day, and have probably been succeeding 5 or 6 times a week. Unfortunately, there has been very little endurance work. I miss it - endurance stuff is my favorite, but it's the most time consuming.

These days, though, I'm doing well to fit in what I can. Hopefully I'll be able to ramp back up to it as the summer rolls along.

At the end of April, I was very focused on getting in my 1000km of riding in preparation for Rideau Lakes. There was a sense of apprehension, though, as at the time everyone in the house was sick.

On the day after my 80km Tour Nortel ride, I went for my morning swim. Uncharacteristically, I left the pool early, feeling totally beat.

When I got home from work that day, my temperature was over 100.

So began two very uncomfortable weeks. What started as an upper respiratory infection moved to be a lower resperatory infection. I did not swim, I did not bike. When I wasn't at home in bed, I was working long hours at work, trying to meet a deadline that my health was expediting.

In short, putting in 1000km was suddenly very fall down the totem pole.

Towards the end of May, I started riding again. I was able to get my total mileage up over 500km, and put in another 70+ km ride. Would it be enough? I would have to see.

Saturday morning, I made it to Carleton University for 6:30, registered, and found my group. We made some plans, and joined the mass exodus.

The first leg was a 40km ride though Ottawa, out to the countryside, to Ashton. The roads were very crowded, and I had a lot of trouble staying with my group in the crowds, and found the whole thing rather frustrating. Eventually I found myself an empty bit of road, and settled down into my own rhythm. Before I knew it, there was shade and water and a Mars bar at Ashton.

The group reorganized, and we left together, and settled into a paceline. The headwind was rather stiff, and the paceline helped take the bite out of the headwind. That said, I was very nervous in the paceline, and had trouble staying as close to the bike in front of me as I needed to to gain full effect from drafting. Some of the more experienced riders noticed, and tried to encourage me.

While this stage was very smooth, and the experience of riding in a paceline was amazing, it was also mentally demanding and stressful.

We arrived in Perth before 11am, having covered 40km in fairly quick time, and settled down under a tree for lunch of sandwiches, juice, bananas and baked goodies. We discussed the ride so far, and the fact that we'd dropped a couple of pickups who hadn't been able to keep up. I confided that I would probably be the next to be dropped. The group had agreed to lower the pace, but I just wasn't as used to the pace line as everyone else, and the mental and physical stresses of riding in a group, including not feeling comfortable taking a drink unless I was at the back of the line, were worries for me.

We started the next stage, a 45km ride to Westport. Once we were out of Perth, the pace line started again. We took shorter turns at the front, which was nice. At about the 90-95km mark, we started to hit some rolling hills, signs of things to come. One of my single biggest weaknesses on the ride was the uphills - I hadn't trained on many hills at all, and I was finding them much harder than everyone else. When more experienced riders were on the front, they attacked the rollers, trying to carry momentum from one hill to the next. This was technically correct, but was very difficult on me. I struggled to keep up, but was noticing that the midday heat was really starting to get to me. Finally, I decided that I needed to sit in the shade far more than I needed the paceline. I called out that I was dropping, pulled off to the side, and did so.

Interestingly, I did not drop back immediately. I was close to the group for several minutes, but was able to ride at my own pace. Eventually, I spied a bit of grass at the side of the road under a shady tree, and practially dove for it.

There, I was able to take some time and reflect. I was feeling ok, I was reasonably happy with my hydration and nutrition. I wondered if I would be able to do the return ride on Sunday. I realized that, if after a night's sleep and breakfast, if I felt I wasn't ready, I would be able to pull out and call for a ride home.

After giving two passing police officers on motorbikes the thumbs up (to let them know that I was resting, not injured), I got back on the road. I made decent time through the hills, eventually arrving in Westport in time to see my group resting in the shade of the gas station.

And what a sight the gas station was. There were 70-100 cyclists there, buying Gatorade, water and ice cream in large amounts. Every bit of available shade was taken. I bought two gatorades and a bag of salty chips, and sat down to refuel. The group asked if I wanted to join them, but I assured them that I wanted to rest long, and sent them on ahead. And I did rest - for much longer. I downed one full Gatorade and half a bag of chips. I used the facilities. I sat some more. Finally, I headed out.

The next stage was 30 km to another rest stop. This stage featured the worst of the hills, and progress was slow. I stopped in the shade more than once. The fact that I was dead slow on hills did not bother me, but the heat was really starting to get to me. I hydrated as much as I could, but I was getting a slight headache, and was starting to worry about body temperature. Progress was very slow here, mostly because of the hills, but also because of the heat.

I saw an ambulance go by me at one point, going the other way. Yes, this was serious business.

The rest stop was a disappointment. They had bananas (yay!) and water on ice, but they had very little shade. I took a long break, ate the banana (a godsend, for sure), and drank a lot of water. Still, even with a fair amount of rest, I felt no cooler.

I thought, and thought, and decided that I wanted nothing to do with the heat on Sunday. To put it in perspective, Friday was the hottest day of the year by a fair margin. Saturday was much hotter, and Sunday was supposed to be the same as Saturday, with maybe more of a chance of a rain or thundershower. At that point, 150km into my ride, I had learned SO SO much about myself and about distance riding. Riding 180km the next day intimitdated me, but I realized that sitting out in the sun for 8-10 hours, just doing NOTHING, was more than I would have wanted. Adding riding to that would be just too much.

I tried to call for a ride, but we were out of cell phone service. So, with nothing else to do, I got on my bike and started riding.

The break hadn't done a thing for my comfort level, but my strength was much better after the restart. I started making decent time, especially once the hills levelled out. At a small town at around the 160km mark, I found some shade on the sidewalk and made my call. Please, come pick me up in Kingston.

As I made my call, a gentleman in red pulled in beside me to cool off in the shade. We talked a bit about how we were both struggling. He generously offered to pull me for a bit. I told him that I was a bit uncomfortable following, but I nonetheless accepted his offer, telling him not to worry if I dropped.

For a few kilometers, my eyes were on the red shirt in front of me, as we rolled along the flat road. Eventually, we hit a hill, and he dropped me, but I was nonetheless grateful. A short ways up the road, he was off to the side. I asked if he was ok, but he said he was waiting for the line to pass. When the line passed, he overtook me, and settled back in in front of me!

He dropped me later, on a downhill, and I never saw him again, but wherever he is, he deserves my thanks.

I stopped at least once more in the shade, but now Kingston was in sight. Once we hit the city, it was stop and go with traffic lights and awful road conditions all the way to Queens University.

Interestingly, about half a kilometer from Queens, the temperature dropped abruptly as we approached Lake Ontario. It felt wonderful, but I ended up needing to pull a t-shirt on after sitting around for a few minutes. How quickly things can change!

I saw my group, and let them know that I was dropping out. At least one person agreed that my choice was probably for the best.

Sitting here, on Saturday morning, not riding the hills into Westport, I'm very happy with my decision. I learned so much yesterday, had an amazing time, and fulfilled a childhood dream. I was not ready for the ride, but the truth is that I don't think that I knew enough to properly prepare. All my training was solo, due to time, opportunity and personality. If I'd been comfortable in a paceline, and with riding with groups in general, AND had more distance in my legs, I know that the ride would have been very different. With the heat, I might still have dropped out, but riding solo and riding in a group are very, very different experiences.

As much as I hate to quit, I feel no remorse for dropping out. If anything, after 2 marathons in the sudden heat of late May, I'm surprised I didn't see this coming. It's so very very hard to be ready for the heat at this time of year, and I've never handled the heat well.

Rideau Lakes, well half of it, is an experience I won't soon forget.

The weather was less than ideal. It was raining at dawn, and continued through the 8:30am start. It finally stopped raining towards 9:30. The temperature wasn't too bad, starting out at 9 and warming up a bit. Still, I wore long running pants under my bike shorts, and a long sleeve shirt, cycling short-sleeve, and windbreaker. Some people wore far, far less.

I met up with a group, some of whom were from the swim club, on the morning of the event. I started out with them, but they proved to be just a little too fast for me. We hit some rolling hills about 7km in, and I decided then and there that I should just let myself be dropped, and set my own pace. This proved to be a good decision.

At about 8km we did the Richardson Side Road hill out of Kanata. This hill isn't very big, but it is steep. In the rain, i was happy to ride my brakes as much as I could going down. Some people tucked and went all out. Scary.

After that, except for a brief drive-by of the Senate, we were out in the country. Within a few kilometers, we reclimbed the ridge we'd descended on Richardson Side Road. I had to drop all the way down to the granny gear, but I managed to keep a good cadence all the way up.

I found myself wishing I had brought a camera. I would have, in all likelihood, if the weather had been drier. The fields are all green now, finally, and the deciduous trees are just starting to bud. It was all springtime and clean, an impression no doubt amplified by the fact that everything, including my feet, was very wet.

I had packed 2 Gatorades and 2 chocolate bars for the trip. I planned on having the first chocolate bar at 40km, and opportunity arose in an unpleasant fashion. We passed through the village of Dunrobin just past 35km, and we descended into a lowland swamp, complete with an osprey nest. Ahead of us, though, was a hill that dwarfed Richardson Side Road. In the distance I could see bikes compressed together on the climb, a sure sign that it was as long and tough as it looked.

Of course, it was only a hill, and folks in other parts of the country would probably laugh. Still, this early in the season, it was very tough. Even worse, it featured a false summit. I would say that I did at least a kilometer of climbing on that hill alone. When I finally made it to the top, I was at 40.5km. Time for a Mars bar.

We finally hit the asymetrical turnaround at 50km, on a beach on the Ottawa River. There was the opportunity to get off our bikes, have some orange slices and some bottled water, and even use the portable facilities.

When I resumed, I found myself riding into the wind. We also had a long slow climb to Mars hill. By the 60km mark, I was starting to feel a bit tired. I was looking forward to being back in the city, with some small shelter from the wind.

The nice part is that this was a charity ride, not a race. I was content to do whatever speed the wind would let me, and just keep moving. The wind was drying the roads, and probably drying me out too. I worked on my second bottle of Gatorade and pondered my second chocolate bar, but overall I was in decent spirits.

Right on the 70km mark, we turned back into Kanata. As we wove our way through the subdivision, my spirits rose. Before I knew it, I was at the finish line, being offered bottled water and chocolate chip muffins.

In general, I think that the sports I partake in are well suited to my personality. Nonetheless, this morning's workout left me a touch bitter.

After a 1300m warmup, our main set was a complicated, but challenging one.

25x50m:
first 4 non-free
next 2 non-free, different than the last
on 1:01
The catch is that wherever the second hand was at the start of your first 50, that's where it had to be when you finished EACH of the 50s. If you ever failed to meet this finish time, you started doing 25m repeats instead of 50s.

So, to be clear, you had 60 seconds to finish the first 50. You had 50 seconds to finish the 10th 50. The last 50 you only had 35 seconds to complete.

The first 6 being non-free were fairly tough. I opted for 4 fly, then 2 breast. Finishing the 2 breast on time was kind of tough. When we were allowed to switch to free, things got easier - for a while. I had started on the 60, and for a while the freestyle 50s were being finished on the 55. As we were starting 1 second later each time, though, it started getting tougher. Once I slipped off of 55, I knew I was in trouble. I was able to sprint through a few, but around repeat number 20 I blew up.

I started doing 25s, trying to keep my stroke together and my speed up. The ladies behind me in my lane were all bitter than I seemed to be throwing off their time, but they kept doing 50s. When we finally finished the set, they started talking about how the set wasn't too bad, and how they felt stronger at the end. Um, what?

It turns out that they had missed the part about the finish time, and had just done a leisurely 25x50m on 1:01.

I felt an overwhelming need to explain to them that they'd missed something. I tried to explain the set, but quickly realized that it didn't matter. All that matters to me is what I do, and I was pretty happy with my effort. If everyone else did a different set and found it easy, more power to them. Or so I told myself.

It did make me feel better, though, to hear the guys from the fast lane talking about the "tough" set afterwards, in the locker room. It made me feel a bit better.

I think I'm still a bit bitter, though.

The wind was strong and steady from the southwest, bringing the last of the unseasonably warm weather we've been having. I rode south of the city, deciding to make for the rugby park.

It didnt' take long for me to decide to get down into the drops, and stay there as long as I could. I didn't carry much speed into the wind, but I did my best to keep grinding. It quickly became a weird kind of sub-20km/h speed set. I grinded away, and only really got a respite in a wooded section towards the end. I made it the almost 15 kilometers in 38 minutes exactly.

After a quick break to catch my breath, I turned around and made my way home. The difference was unbelievable. It's probably a fair statment that the wind is always in your face. At the speed I was going with the wind at my back, I'm sure the air was slowing me down rather than pushing me along. Still, it felt good to be able to sit up and just fly along.

The return trip felt stronger and faster, and was done in 28:22. Crazy.

Once I got home, of course, it all hit me. I had a double course of dinner and went straight to bed.

Thursday was cooler and windier. I struggled with a headwind the whole way in. The upside was the return trip, where I felt strangely strong. The 5 minute negative split was not the result of excellent conditioning, I can tell you that!

I was apprehensive about today's swim, but I felt surprisingly good. I even put up a PB on my 50 breast - 41.5. Still not as fast as I'd like to be, but I definitely benefitted from the extra turn.

I was briefly really impressed with how many miles I'd put in on the bike this week, until I did the math and realized I wasn't really ahead of pace to put in 1000km before Rideau Lakes. If anything, I need to maintain this pace for the next month and a half.

Well, that will come. For now, I'm taking a couple of days of well-deserved rest!

We did some IM work, but mostly we worked on sprint. The main set was:
200 fly kick negative split
4x50 free w 15s rest (3rd 50 fastest)
200 fr ez
8x25 free w 10s rest
4x50 free w 10s rest

Other than the ez, it was all intended to be fast. The upside was that each set was done on 6 minutes, so there was lots of rest between the 200s.

On the heels of this came the benchmark
25 build rest 30
50 sprint rest 60
25 ez rest 30
50 sprint (timed)

My timed 50 was 38 seconds flat. Not bad, but it's a far cry from my 50 fly time. It's also a far cry from what the fast swimmers do.

Part of it, for sure, is that the sprint came at the end of the set. Part of it, though, is that I haven't quite got my freestyle together yet. Which is fine - it, like so many things in life, is a work in progress.

I thought about running this weekend, but I wanted to get another warmup ride in on Saturday. Ergo, I decided to skip the run, and just focus on getting used to the bike again.

Saturday I just rode around the neighbourhood. I was aiming for 15-20, and wound up with.

I rode the 5k to the meeting point on Sunday. There were about a dozen people there, including one who was riding with clips for the first time. The pace wasn't too bad, though obviously there was a range of abilities and fitness there. The organizer did a good job trying to keep everyone together. After about 45 minutes, the group split in two - one group heading straight back to town, the other riding a bit further. I surprised myself a bit by joining the group that continued on.

Two things did get to me. One, I generally tried to hand back a bit. At times, I found myself in a tight group, and I was nervous - either about someone braking in front of me, forgetting someone was behind me and braking/moving, or forgetting to signal a bump or pothole. The other problem happened later, when I was outside and noticed my arms were red. Oops. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the sun thing.

The summer-like weather is supposed to persist for at least the early part of the week. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more distance in before the temperatures return to seasonal.

I went out for a brief ride on Tuesday. I just wanted to take it around the neighbourhood, see if everything was working. It probably needs a tune-up, but the tires still hold air, so that's good.

This morning I bit the bullet and rode in to work. Whether or not I ride home will depend on how I'm feeling, but right now, it seems like I might not. That was tough - especially on the body parts that don't take well to the first few rides of the year.

I read over the Rideau Lakes literature this morning. I more or less have 50 days left to do the 1000km cycling they recommend to prepare. That's 20km a day. Well, whatever happens, I've hit my quota for today. :)

I'm very, very happy to be back into this. Spring is finally truly here, and now I can start spending more time outdoors again!

Swimming attendance has been pretty good lately. I've gotten 3 excellent tips over the last month - two related to kick, and one related to freestyle pull. They're having a positive effect, and I'm working hard on trying to focus on them. The downside is they're kicking my butt, so to speak. More efficiency, more technique and more power sometimes mean more breathing, and slower recovery times. It's a process.

Boy, do I miss the aerobic engine that I had last year.

Still, I've set a few minor PBs, most notably breaking 3 minutes on the 200 and going sub-34 seconds on the 50 fly (albeit in a 25m pool). I'm hoping to get the courage (and better technique!) required to try a 100 fly before the end of the year. Right now, I'm a wee bit intimidated.

I went for a run on Sunday - the first time in weeks. I only made it about 13 minutes before I ran into some old friends. Skipping out on the rest of the run was worthwhile. Besides, my quads were plenty sore the next day.

This week I've been seeing cyclists everywhere. I need to kickstart my riding very, very soon. I'd love to see one good rain go by first, though, to clean up some of the dust and salt from the winter.

We've lost several feet of snow over the last few days, and there's water everywhere. I'm also starting to see patches of ground, though, and it can't be too long before they start turning green.

Rules are simple - Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you’d like to read. I'll follow in jank's footsteps and throw in some comments.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) - It's been spoiled for me, but I don't think I ever had any interest.
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) Bound to be a BBC adaptation or three out there, if I never get around to reading it.
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Like so many others, I loved it. Avoids being saccharine.
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) Loved them. Not the best fantasy out there, but engrossing.
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) I may be Canadian, but I'll still take a pass.
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) Never heard of it #1
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) Cool cover, but no idea.
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) Decent books, but maybe not quite worth the billions Ms. Rowling has made.
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) As per DaVinci
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) No idea #2
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) No interest.
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) No idea #3
18. The Stand (Stephen King) Stephen King has never appealed.
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) Best of the bunch. They went slightly downhill from here.
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) Like Austin, the Brontes are probably worth at least a watch, if not a read.
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) Used to read this to my son, long ago.
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) No interest.
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) Saw parts of the movie, ergo really no interest.
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) No idea #4
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) No offense to the immensely popular Pratchett, but he's in Adams mighty shadow. I actually find that it's harder to make truly funny comedy from the ridiculous than from the mundane. Adams made it look easy.
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) Tried and failed. The movie was ok, but as a child this book did not capture my interest.
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) I liked the move Of Mice and Men, but it didn't encourage me to go out and read all his stuff.
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) No idea #5
31. Dune (Frank Herbert) Sci-fi at its best. A straightforward adventure story with a ton of depth if you look for it. I adored Frank Herbert for his willingness to challenge his readers.
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) Yet another movie I haven't seen, from a book I'll never read.
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) I won't close the book entirely on Rand, but from encountering her ideas second-hand I'm less than impressed.
34. 1984 (Orwell) Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. Once Herbert wrote "the more control, the more that needs control", the world of 1984 fell apart before my eyes.
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) I'm so overdue on this one.
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) No idea #6.
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) No idea #7.
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) No idea #8, unless Wally was in Spandau Ballet.
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) No idea #9.
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) 10... wow, I'm illiterate!
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) A friend introduced me to it in grade 8. Decent, but not outstanding.
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) I might see the movie someday, I guess.
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) No. Thank. You.
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) Intriguing title.
45. Bible Haven't read as much of it as I should have I suppose.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) I'm curious enough to read it, and find out what all the fuss is about vis a vis the russian authors.
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) Would prefer to read it in french.
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) #11
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) See above
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) #12
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) #13
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) Started it, stalled. From what I remember, Dickens style was way too wordy for me.
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) Very good book. The foreword may be the best part of the book, though.
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) I need to write in to my high school, ask for the hours I spend reading this back.
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) No to book and miniseries both.
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) Missed it, thank goodness. Not my cup o' tea.
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) Another intriguing title.
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) As per Tolstoy.
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) No to Rand, for now.
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) Movie made me interested enough to try one of her books.
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) Go go Canadian lit class. It was ok, but I don't think that "literary" novels like this one are quite my cup of tea.
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) No idea, yet again. I've lost count of books I've never heard of.
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) No thanks.
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Unlikely.
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) In french, if possible.
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) Movie was good, but that was enough.
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) Nothing has ever captured me like the Fionavar trilogy. Fast paced, and every one of the 5 main characters was completely memorable. Well, except maybe Jennifer.
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) No idea.
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) Saw part of the movie on CBC. DIdn't look bad, but Laurence is probably too literary for me.
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) Skipped it as a child. My "kid's books" phase was very, very short.
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) After reading Findley's The Wars, NO THANK YOU.
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) Enjoyed the movie, insofar as a depressing movie can be enjoyed. No intention of revisiting.
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) No idea.
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) Fionavar is my favorite, but this may be the single best crafted fantasy novel there is. The sequel was 95% as good, but nothing thereafter was even half as good. What shone through was the intelligence of the main characters.
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)> Good book, good movie.
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) Read on the heels of 1984, I was ready to hate it, too. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. I don't think utopian/distopian novels work for me.
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) NO idea.
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91.The Skin of the Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) NO THANK YOU.
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) This was "in" when I was young. Never piqued my interest, though.
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) Probably not.
100. Ulysses (James Joyce) Someday...

My own list to add:

Germinal (Emile Zola) - Stupendous book that completley exceeded my expectations, and made taking that french course in university worthwhile. In a sense, this is what 1984 should have been. Should be required reading for anoyone who thinks they're an anarchist.

Anything by Molière. I've read Le Bourgeous Gentilhomme and Le Malade Imaginaire. Funnier than anything I've read by Shakespeare.

Chariots of the Gods? (Erich von Daniken) Interesting point of view. Probably helped me develop critical thought.

Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C Clarke) Perhaps the perfect sci fi novel.

Nightfall (Isaac Asimov) Perhaps the perfect sci fi short story. Wait, scratch the "perhaps".

Seed Stock (Frank Herbert) I love space operas as much as the next guy, but this short story is probably far closer to the truth than any spce travel vision of Asimov, Roddenberry or Lucas.

A Man For All Seasons (Robert Bolt) A lot like To Kill A Mockingbird, I guess.

Galileo's Daughter and Longitude (Dava Sobel) History. Smart people. Hooray!

Connections, or anything else (James Burke). History + technology = win!

Anne Frank's Diary Read it as a kid, after I saw a movie about her.

Stranger in a Strage Land (Robert Heinlein) While I generally dislike Heinlein, this one was decent.

Joseph Campbell - Read something of his in High School, forget what exactly. Always intended to revisit him. Someday, I guess.

The results still aren't posted, but I'll say what I know, and fill in the blanks later.

This was my third year doing the swim meet, which has been described in the past by the adage "do one thing every day that scares you". Swimming is, for me, anything but a lifelong pursuit. There's a clear distinction between me and a lot of the other swimmers. Many of these people swam when they were young, and are either continuing or rediscovering their passions. These people learned efficiency and technique young, and have an element of grace in the water.

That's not my story.

It has been interesting, though, to observe my development over the years. It probably took me 6-8 months to swim 100m in under 1:50. It took 1.5 years to get under 1:30. It took almost 2 more years to get under 1:20.

Clearly, I'm learning. Clearly, I had a lot to learn. But the returns are diminishing. Gone are the days when I could jump into the pool, put it all together, and shock myself. Progress these days is slow, and metered, when it happens at all.

Case in point is my breaststroke time. Two years ago I swam 43.13 in the 50m. Last year I swam 44.05. This year, despite intent, I really haven't been any faster than those times.

I was signed up for 4 events:
50 breast
200 breast
50 fly
800 free

(My earlier post had an error - apprently I couldn't remember what I'd signed up for!)

The most important race, for me, was the 200 breast. I put in a very good time in December (under 3:20), but had been over 3:20 more recently. This is an intensely gruelling event. The whip kick is powerful, anaerobic, and very hard to sustain for over 3 minutes. Even on my effort in December, I'd felt like I was badly failing towards the end.

The next most important, I suppose, was the 50 fly. I knew I could be fast in this race. Both my 25 fly and 50 fly in December had been very good.

One key difference between my practice times and this meet was the pool length. I swim in a 25 metre pool, but the meet is in a 50 metre pool. I should expect to be slower in a 50 metre pool, as there is less opportunity to use a wall to get a burst of speed. This did not really factor into my pre-race expectations, but maybe it should have. In past years, I was improving quickly enough that small considerations like this didn't matter. These days, every small detail matters.

My first event was the 50 breast. I did not seriously think that I could challenge my PB (43.13), but I wanted to focus on technique, especially getting a solit glide and strong pull, in preparation for the 200. Unfortunately, I got butterflies right before the start, and my abdomen didn't really unclench for most of the race. Overall, the swim was ok, but I don't think that I had the power in my kick that I did in previous years. From recollection, my time was ~43.9.

Next up was the 200 breast. I tried to start out with a moderate first 50 and build from there, hoping that I would have something left at the end, without sacrificing too much time. Dropping from 7 turns (in a 25 metre pool) to 3 may have helped my breathing a bit, too. Still, by the end, I was getting near to the end of my rope. My time was something like 3:21. This wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but I think it's a decent result.

If I could do it all over again, though, I think I'd go out hard. It might not have given a better result (and quite possibly would have been slower), but I think I'd like to know how the more courageous option would have fared.

After the break, my next event was the 50 fly. I was wary of the butterflies (haha) on this start, but managed to stay loose and keep them at bay. I was quietly optimistic about this race. I did 36:00 2 years ago. This year, I broke 35 seconds for the first time (34.95), and broke 15 seconds on the 25 (14.23). My goal was more technical than result oriented. I wanted to keep my head down as much as possible, taking as few breaths as possible.

Off the start, I was able to keep my head down for the first couple of pulls. After a second pull, I was able to keep my head down for about 7 pulls in a row, taking me past the halfway mark. I mentally resolved to focus on picking up my kick over the last 25. When I came up for my third breath, though, I took on water, and was forced to breathe again the next pull. Yuck. That threw my off my game just a bit, and I had to breathe at least 2 more times on the way in. Still, I came in with the PB that I was hoping for, swimming 34.15 (?). This is not only a fly PB, but a PB over 50 metres over any stroke. It's also my first World Masters qualification time in a 50 metre pool.

My last event was the 800 free. Unfortunately, I was a bit fatigued by this point in the meet. I decided to break the swim down like this:
- 200 focus on technique
- 200 moderate
- 200 build
- 100 fast
- 100 sprint

They had bells out to ring at the 700 metre mark, but we were swimming 2 to a lane, and I was a bit paranoid about losing track of where I was. Ergo, I worked very hard to try to keep my mind clear and focused.

The first threat to that came at the 70 metre mark. The heat featured a staggered start, with heat 3 starting, and moving into one half of the lane. Once they got to the far end of the pool, our heat would start, and we would move to the other half of the lane. It was all a bit complicated, so I both listened carefully and watched to make sure I knew where to swim. Alas, my lanemate may have missed part of the instructions because at 70 metres he swam right over me.

I settled back down quickly, but at 150 metres I started swimming very "heads up" looking for him. He did not trouble me any more, though.

I still don't have the results for this swim, but I suspect that I was quite a bit slower than I had hoped to be. Part of it was fatigue. Talking to one of the club coaches afterwards, she confessed that she was surprised that I didn't start out a little harder than I did. Point taken.

Right after the 800m, blogger Wendy approached me, to offer kind words and congratulations. She had been slated to swim in the same heat, but alas a cold had shelved those plans. Still, she was very complimentary of my swim.

Hopefully, the results will eventually be posted. Overall, I don't think my results were great, but nor were they horrible. They probably fell where they could reasonably be expected to fall. Overall, I did ok, but if I have a regret it's that I did not swim aggressively enough.

Next week's swim meet was very much on my mind. Also on my mind was the fact that spring will soon be here (maybe??), and that I'll need to start training harder.

As a consequence, I didn't take a walk break until the turnaround, and after that I picked up my pace a bit. I hit the turnaround in around 15 minutes, but managed to come home in 13 minutes.

On the way back, since I don't have a good feel for my speed yet, I aimed to try to keep myself just outside of my comfort zone. The theme for this year is going to be to spend as much time as I can training outside of my comfort zone, with an eye to becoming both faster and stronger. While it was only a 5km run, today's run was tough both because of the cold and because I pushed myself. It's a good start.