Trains, training, confusion, sickness and snow!

What a long weekend. Fresh off last weeks storms, I was concerned that my trip to the Amherst Train Show (which is strangely held in Springfield) would be wiped out due to snow. Thankfully, we got just a very minor flurrying and I was able to make my trip. I know it's about as far from triathlon as I can think of, but it's a hobby I've had all my life and I find it relaxing to enjoy during the winter as long as I stay away from spending too much. I'm building a small layout (3'x4'), that will fit nicely in an apartment for the next couple years, but that I can add to a larger layout later.

The only problem with the trip was that I started coming down with something on Friday night, and I spent Saturday with 20,000 rail fans, many of whom were also not feeling well. By Sunday I was sure I was getting sick, but at least I felt well enough to take Rach couch shopping and then workout. I got almost an hour on the bike and half an hour on the track at FitRec. I bought the foot pod for my Garmin 305 last week, and this was my first chance to use it. I couldn't calibrate it because the track is a bit oddly shaped (7 laps is a mile for the inner loop), so I couldn't base a calibration off the track. It seemed pretty accurate as I did 2 miles in the 3rd lane in about 12 laps.

I felt really good to have gotten in a strong workout, including some bike miles on the really tough XDream mountain bike simulator. Those climbing workouts are not for the faint of heart. When I got home, I was feeling pretty much ok. When I woke up monday though, I knew I wouldn't be going in. I felt lousy. I did manage to ride a mile on the rollers monday night, just to give myself some motivation to keep training every day.

Then there's the new weight watchers system which I started on Sunday. Boy is that confusing. The new points plus system takes into account fat, protein, carbohydrates and fiber; the math is way harder to do manually so everything has to be entered into a calculator to figure out the value of what you just ate. Im not sure if I'll be able to follow this system successfully, or if going back to the old points (which you can do) will work better for me.

Oh, and did I mention it's snowing again? Schools everywhere are cancelling afternoon classes, and we're expecting 8 inches today and perhaps twice as much tomorrow. Guess if I feel up to doing anything later it will be riding the rollers again.