Technique.
Anyone who remotely follows this blog, knows that I always go on about technique. I know first hand how important good technique is. Sometime ago I swam fairly seriously. Occasionally, I'd get my butt kicked in a race by someone who was smaller and not as strong. They simply had better form. I vowed to become better by attaining better technique. I watched videos of Olympians, I practice mental imagery and most importanly I listened to what my coaches told me. It took awhile, but it worked. Today, the muscle memory that I had from 20 years ago is still alive and well and that I'm still a decent swimmer despite hardly training it. It's all due to technique.

I bring this up because I've dedicated all my riding in December to soley focusing on technique. For that I'm using spinscan that comes with Computrainer. See previous post if you're curious about spinscan or click here:
http://www.racermateinc.com/spinscan.asp
Last week my spinscan high for a mere 30 minutes on the bike was 77. This week it's 86! A 9 point improvement! Might not sound like much to you, but I was shocked. If I really concentrate while spinning, I can actually feel how I'm suppose to spin. ie: slightly changing when a muscle fires or changing my maximum torque angle. It takes alot of concentration and when my attention wonders, the numbers go down. I'll be routinely incorporating technique sessions throughout my winter training.

I'm an idiot. Wanted to do the Chili half marathon at the beginning of March. I procrastinated to the point that now the race is sold out. On the waiting list.

Last weeks totals:
Run 5 times: 60.5k
Spin 5 times: 3+ hrs.
The highlight was doing a 20k'er with Cliff on the Trans Canada Trail at 9 am on Saturday morning when it's -15 degrees. Afterwards, I bought myself and Sally snowshoes from Caledon Hills Cycling, who've recently branched out into winter sports. It was good timing as we almost got a foot of snow yesterday. So Sally got an early Christmas present and we snowshoeing in the middle of a blizzard yesterday. Might not be your idea of fun, but we had a blast!

Cheers!