Day Nine: Maynard, MA

October 2: Portland, ME to Maynard, MA

miles: 137

time: 2.5 hours

Slept in for a while on the Aerobed in my old room. Called Katie to make plans for lunch. First thing had to get some oil, the sight had been looking lower and lower, so I headed up to Street Cycles in Falmouth to buy a couple quarts, one for now, another for later. Came closest to dropping the bike by taking it off the center stand on some uneven pavement. Fortunately I was smart enough to stand on the side I thought it might tip and saved it. Took the boulevard in near Deering to meet Katie and Bill for lunch at a Chinese place then an episode of NCIS: LA... Chinese was good, new NCIS not so much. I called it NCIS meets Saved By The Bell. Weird. Finally took the last leg back home. Even had time to wash my bike before the rain came in.

Now the unpacking starts.

Fin.

Day Eight: Portland, ME via The Cat

October 1: Kejimkujik National Park of Canada to Portland, ME

miles: 125

time: 3 hours


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We boiled up the last of the original water I brought for oatmeal- the water I got from the camping area this morning looking awfully yellow for my taste, then packed up our camping stuff to hit the road. On the ride out of the park I saw the porcupine I had seen last night a mile or so from where we had seen him before. Still eating grass but this time he rustled toward the bushes when he heard us coming.

Turned out to be a cold day. Temp on my bike hung around 53F but it seemed more biting than the other days. We stuck mostly to rt 1 when we could and took 101 when appropriate. It turned out to be a little challenging finding a place for lunch this time of year, many places are closed for the season already but we did find a good diner to warm up and get a couple lunches.

The Cat Ferry was easy to find, just follow the signs when you get to Yarmouth. We even had almost an hour to spare before loading onto the boat. The ride itself was pretty nice, we saw a couple porpoises and maybe whales, nothing really jumping out of the water so it was hard to tell exactly what you were looking at. On the boat there wasn't much to see, a bunch of older people on a tour. The best view was out of the back of the ship, seeing the rooster tail and the wake. From the front the seem doesn't seem very fast. The sound of the casino though nearly drove me insane, we didn't have the best choice of seats since we had to secure our bikes once we made it on and bikes were one of the last groups to be loaded.

Once we got to Portland we found our bikes made the trip without incident even though the ride wasn't exactly calm. It is a quick jaunt to my parent's house after getting through Customs at the ferry terminal which was good because it was getting to be a chilly night.

Day Four: Inverness, NS

September 26: Cavendish, PEI to Inverness, NS

miles: 208 ridden

time: 7 hours with the ferry

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The ride out of PEI was nice, good roads and finally out of the rain. We drove through Charlottetown towards Wood Islands to catch the 12:30 NFL ferry to Nova Scotia. The ferry ride was nice too, 75 minutes. We got lunch as we rode.

Decided to bypass Port Hawkesbury and find some camping along the Ceilidh Trail. The first option at Port Hooddidn't look great, an arena in a field, exposed to the sea. The next option at Mabou hadn't opened this year. That's how we ended up at Inverness Beach Village.

Dinner was a cafe in town, Coalminer Cafe I think. Another couple from, I think Vancouver, maybe Calgary, were the only other patrons on our side of the restaurant and were interested in talking. The had come in from Newfoundland and were headed through PEI toward St. John, so the way we had just come.

Back at the campsite, I found a friendly dog waiting when I left the washrooms. He startled me at first but turned out to be really friendly. He was huge but very friendly, wanted his belly rubbed more than anything. He stayed at the campsite for a couple hours after following me back.

Day Three: Cavendish, PEI

Sept. 25: St. John, NB to Cavendish, PEI
miles: 220
time: 6 hours


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First the rain, then the wind, oh the wind. Today was a test: rainy, cold, windy. In the 40s and rainy but the worst was the wind. Especially on the bridge out to PEI. But otherwise the countryside was beautiful. Prince Edward Island seems like it could be a worderful place to see in the right conditions. With all the wind churning the ocean I would have loved to get a dramatic photo of the seaside but the rain kept my camera in it's home today. We also decided to go for a relatively cheap cabin rather than camp to give our gear a chance to dry. Not a bad day, I hope I didn't give the wrong impression, just a lot of adventure and some battling against the elements.
Now off to find a hearty dinner.

Day Two: Saint John, NB

Sept. 24: Portland, ME to Saint John, NB
miles: 300
time: 7 hours

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Lots of miles today. Set out with dad this morning around 9. Great weather for riding, started out a little warm at 70 but soon fell to around 65 for the rest of the ride. Crossed the border in Calais. Not a problem but more security than there used to be. Apperently I followed too closely to the car in front when we pulled in to the booth? I didn't see any instructions...
Had lunch at a little diner before Calais, nothing special.
Hotel tonight, oh the luxery. Off to find dinner now, not a lot of prospects nearby. -kp

Day One: Portland, ME

September 23: Maynard, MA to Portland, ME

miles: 124

time: ~2.5 hours with a big stopover in the middle

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A working day but worked the morning at home so I could finish packing. As soon as I got to work my coworker friends were in the parking lot to usher me to Flatbread. I'll miss working so close to such a great pizza place.

After an unremarkable afternoon and a final meeting I headed up to Portland. Had some of my mom's spaghetti. A good day food-wise. It hardly feels like the trip has started, being at my parents place, but I am on my way- a few more miles on the R1200R.

Tomorrow should be more interesting.

Nova Scotia Loop Trip

My next trip begins tomorrow. I leave Massachusetts in the afternoon and over the course of a couple days I'll make my way up to Meat Cove at the northern tip of Nova Scotia.

Check back to see how things go, I'll try to keep updating as I travel.
-kp

Getting broken up with is sooo de-motivating. I did 3 miles on the treadmill, don't even care how long it took- I just don't feel good at all. But I did get through it (the running, not the feeling bad). I looked at dating profiles online while my subscription is still running, nothing looks at all appealing- at least not interesting enough to make me risk getting hurt again. It will be a big accomplishment if I can force myself to microwave some dinner.

I knew it was going to be hard to up and move. I don't mean for dinner, I mean my life. I was hoping I was on the track to better things- to making my life better. Lately it seems mostly what I did was make things harder on myself.

Did 3 miles on the treadmill in 30 minutes but what I was really trying to do was find a pace that would keep my knee from going bonkers. It seems like a faster pace was actually better on my knee but I couldn't keep it up due to heart rate and breathing getting higher than I like.

Time for me to stop fooling around and try some new shoes.

30 minutes on the bike felt good- 7.74 miles. The heart-rate monitor I tried out sucked- I got one reading over the course of 30 minutes: 114 bpm, not sure how accurate that is, it seems kinda low but maybe.

Some weights. Didn't try to run, felt like it was getting late and I was hungry.

Having my dog back with me does make it harder to work out, I hate having her penned up after she has been all day. Dating also gets in the way of training and unfortunately that doesn't look like it's going to be a problem :-( Hopefully things will turn around.

No real training yesterday but I did a hike up Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire. I did speed hiking on the way up, got the heart rate way up for a decent amount of time.

In other news, the selling of my house really has me down. Couple of showings on Saturday but the driveway is always an issue. Now the amount of time the house has been vacant is worrying me. I've kept the lawn mowed and fertilized but the inside only gets opened up when there is a showing or open house. My new Realtor has been useless. I need to finish up the paperwork to rent it but I've been avoiding it.

Back to it!

((Recumbent) Stationary) Bicycle (all that they have at my new gym... I might have to see what they have at work): 10 miles, ~42 minutes.

Weights.

Treadmill: 1 mile before my knee flared up on me again! Doh. Not what I was hoping for. I'll need to take some Advil before I try that again. I probably should take some now. Walking the dog afterwards I got some shooting pain walking uphill. I decided not to do that anymore. A friend on mine has IT Band injury, I'm half thinking I might have the same. I'll see what Advil, ice, and rest do for me.

Scrapes and bruises are healing.

01:20:05!!!

Success!

CRASH

My tri on Sunday was cancelled due to weather. I guess the site was in pretty bad shape, submerged roads and they had worries of rip currents for the ocean swim so it was right to cancel. Not that I was happy about it, at all. I was pretty upset when I received word on Friday.

So I took a few moments to be upset then signed up for another tri in Montauk, NY for this coming weekend. I am not too thrilled about not having the time to orient myself with the site or the race, and I still need to find a place to stay for Friday night. In any case I think it will be fun and it will give me something to put all my summer training towards.

Now for the story. On Sunday I went out for a leisurely 20 mile ride along the Charles. I just wanted to keep my muscles moving and practice some body position. There were a couple portages... I needed to pick my bike up to go up and down some stairs. Up, Down... Up, CRASH! On the second set of stairs I failed to notice I was coming up on the downstairs until it was too late. I didn't have much time to react and I was going too fast to stop in time (road tires are very slippery, especially when it's a little wet, as it was on Sunday). I figured my only chance was to try to jump them- the last thing I wanted to do was go over the front. So I do my best to get the front tire up... even so I landed the front tire first and it slipped out on me, then the back tire followed. Without a bike left to ride I ended up sliding to a stop on my side. My hip/buttocks took the brunt, the side of my knee got a hefty scrape and the rest was my back and shoulder. I got up, dusted myself off- realized somehow, by some grace I had managed not to break anything I really needed. Next I picked up my bike and it wasn't too bad either. The wheels still round and somehow still true- I think the slippery pavement helped save the bike. Both break levers still worked although somehow they both have scrapes on the front, the bike must have endo-ed after we parted ways. A dropped chain and an off kilter front break were the only real problems and I was able to fix both without even opening my tool pouch. I took a minute to collect myself, I was feeling a little woozy but I managed to make the rest of the route with torn up shorts and a bloody leg.

Thursday morning - 5 mile intervals: 20:40 minutes, 20 minutes. Negative splits again. Keep it up. Friday is rest, I need it.

Some catching up to do:
Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday - some swimming. Watched Ben's Pumpkinman Sprint on Saturday morning. It looked fun but made me nervous about the things I still need to prepare.

Monday morning - 30 minute bike, 30 minutes running.

Tuesday morning - 20 minute run, 40 minute bike. Right knee was too sore to make it a full 3 miles running without risking damage so I switched over to the bike early. I'll keep on the bike for the rest of the week and see if I can get back to running next week. Not a lot of time before I taper. I should probably treat myself to a new pair of sneakers while I'm at it. Upping distance too quickly and worn out shoes could both be contributing to the pain I was getting. Shoes look OK but they aren't new anymore.

Wednesday morning - 60 minutes on the bike, 15 miles. Yay! And a negative split to boot, I had about a minute to catch up after 30 and I somehow pulled it off, it didn't feel like I was working any harder but I did have to bear down the last mile to make the mark.

Wednesday evening - 30 minutes on the bike, 7.3 miles. Not bad but I felt like I was working harder than that. I'm not sure how computer calculates speed and it if takes the resistance into account, to simulate using a higher gear. In any case I was almost a minute back from my intended pace, just like I was this morning so maybe that's how it goes. Maybe I should have taken a split at 15 minutes just to see. Finished up with some weights which I have neglected for a while.

Only 17 training days left! Going to stop by Peak Performance in Portland this weekend to gear up.

This morning worked out better than yesterday but I'm still not at full power.  60 minutes = 14.57 miles on the stationary.  I did find I hit my groove a little better than yesterday.

That will probably be my only workout of the day, which is good because I do need a little rest, my knee could use some ice again this morning but alas I am at work.  I'm headed up to camp tonight so I can cheer on Ben at his triathlon tomorrow morning.  Depending on the timing I might get a swim in tonight.

Part 1:

Ugh, what did I say? Two-a-days? I was up at 7 this morning, all is well. Did 7.2 miles in 30 minutes on the bike and 3.05 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. Every pedal on the bike was like working through mud. The treadmill felt just as bad, I was watching the minutes tick away waiting for it to be over- that probably made it worse than it had to be.

I'm not sure if it was the 10 hours between workouts or not eating enough for dinner to be replenished or being dehydrated after sleep or just not being used to working out early in the day but it is something I'm going to have to get over before the end of the month.

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Part 2:

60 minutes - 6.1 miles. Longest run of my training. Felt much better than this morning, still kept to a nice, easy pace. My right knee is feeling a little sore so I'm icing it now. Otherwise a nice run and extended my distance a bit.

I also reserved my hotel for the tri weekend. I'm hoping to get a good night's rest although I'm sure I'll be nervous when I get there.

Bike night-

15 miles - 61 minutes, another mile cool down 4:30 minutes.

I was going to run too but ran (haha) out of time instead. I want to start waking up early so I can get used to working out in the morning but I am *terrible* at waking up. Think I can do 2 a days at my age? We'll see.

30

Today I turned 30 years old. I have always avoided marking the event.

30 minutes bike - 7.52 miles
30 minute run - 3.08 miles

25 training days remain - yikes!