A Vegan NHL Hockey Player?

I heard of this guy, George Laraque, some time ago. Says he's vegan, but he's known as the toughest guy in the NHL (aka a fighter/enforcer).

I pretty much wrote him off, described his as just being a bully (i'm not a hockey fan), etc..

But, just a few minutes ago, i decided to listen to what he had to say:



Okay, he got me. I take back what i said. This guy seems pretty cool. Now, when he talks about veganism and animal rights, i hope he has the good sense to stay away from groups like PETA...

Now, back to me! =)

I've been quite busy, training hard! Raced a Caleb Pike last week, but was pretty poached from my training before (including sprinting on my MTB with the Kids Club for 90mins earlier in the day), so when it kicked up a bit a few laps in, i got shelled... Still, about the best i've done on that course, and i think were i feeling a bit better, i'd have been able to hang in there.

I'm also working on developing a TT for Vic, since the Sidney Velo was shut down. The loop is here, and this is the elevation profile:

We were wondering why it was so slow... It's only 13.8km, but Emile took 20:59 to complete, and my own time was 22:36..barely 36.5kph average speed - that is *slow*!

Looking at the profile it makes sense, we're climbing most of the time! There's about 120m of elevation, and it doesn't feel like it (at least, once off Metchosin Road's rollers), but yeah, it is. So it's a tough course! Just testing it for now, but get a hold of me if you're interested in being a part of this..

Also, for my effort, i averaged ~283w, which was a bit lower than i thought i would get, but then again, i punched it on the rollers, holding ~450w for 30 seconds a few times, and ~550w for 20 seconds on one of them. It was funny, Pro City Jamie started ~30sec behind me, and caught me about 4.5km in..he passed me, gained about 50m, and then was stuck there for the rest of the race. Finish time was ~22 even. So he made 30 seconds in the first 4km, and then only six after that...hehe.. =)

Intervals - PI, Power Intervals

So, my own training right now are nasty 'blood samplers' as i call them, 1min efforts, all-out... 2min rest, then repeat. After 4, i take a few extra mins rest, then repeat. Wattage looked something like:

#1: 488w
#2: 463w
#3: 420w
#4: 426w (stopped a couple seconds short)

Not too bad.. My 1min PB is 530w, and i wasn't trying to peak it, but hold a steady high-output (ie, not jam 700w for 30sec, and limp the rest). After the first couple, i was just hoping to hold ~450w. HR peaked at 191bpm. Bleh! Kept going:

#5: 417w
#6: 445w
#7: 410w
#8: 414w

Cooked! HR was only going up to around 185bpm at that point...it hurt.. Kept the cadence high too, most efforts averaging over 110rpm. Nice to get back to doing efforts in that range...

Here's the WKO+ data for the day: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_40c95bz9d4

And what Garmin has to say: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32166084

That's the main excitement for the week! Saturday night i did a short ride because during the day i was busy with:

A Vegan Bakesale!

For World Vegan Bakesale Day Victoria, Sarah Kramer helped me organize a fundraising event here for Friends of Animals, and it was a smashing success! Thanks to nearly 20 bakers, super-volunteers and OrganicAthlete Victoria members Scott and Mary, and over $700 in raffle prizes raised by OA Vic, we raised over $1,000 for FoA to print more Vegan Starter Guides (download PDF) for local distribution. It was pretty awesome, check out Sarah's blog posting, and below is a pic from volunteer Jessica:

Om nom nom... Thank you Victoria for helping out!! Craig Richey and Tom Skinner also swung by for some goodies, thanks guys, and congrats on your Blue Team fundraiser! ;)

Training this week: hopefully we'll pull off the 2nd OA-TT Trial (if not, probably more PI efforts), and definitely more PI's on Thursday. OBB ride on Saturday (i've missed two in a row! Previous week tabling for FoA and OA at the Earthwalk), and Sunday will prolly be a shorter road ride, or maybe some time in the dirt if some peeps would want to hit the trails...

In the mean-time, there are links i need to fix on this site. I might try out a new style/look...i designed this one myself, but it's incompatible with all Google doodads and gadgets...so might try something else for a bit, and see how that works...

Until then, happy riding! =)

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