My other life...

I often tell people I feel a bit schizophrenic. On one side I have the triathlete, trains lots, eat well, gets lots of sleep and generally hang out with others that share a very healthy active lifestyle. Then there is the other side, construction. While I am technically a landscape architect, I work for a construction company and well the above mentioned characteristics don't really fit into this side. With the season now over I am spending the bulk of my time in construction mode and while I haven't taken up smoking or fast food, my language has significantly deteriorated with the added exposure, especially since we are rushing to beat the weather to get the last few projects in the ground and everyone is just a little stressed. As it stands right now there is one small frontyard completely ripped apart (yep, the homeowners are always really happy at this stage) and another thankfully unoccupied new home that needs a whole yard. Not likely to happen before the freeze sets in but hopefully at least the patios and walkways, maybe some plants and grass if we are lucky. On the design end just wrapping up two more custom homes that should be ready to go first thing in the spring.

This is a project I designed earlier in the year that I really wanted to do the construction on. It was going to be this fabulous pool with a raised spa and rock waterfall. Unfortunately they ended up going with a different contractor, boo!!

I did indulge my healthy side this weekend with what may end up being the last good mountain bike ride of the season. I have wanted to check out the trails up in Collingwood/Blue Mountain but was a little hesitant to just head up there solo as there really isn't any trail maps. After meeting fellow Xterra athlete and Collingwood local Katie Button in Maui I decided to invite myself up for a day of riding. We met up with Canadian National MTB Team member Amanda Sin and hubby Kaesy for a great, although slighty muddy, ride at 3 Stages. The riding up there has some really good climbing to get you up onto the Niagara Escarpment, then a whole series of fun winding trails that criss-cross along the top.

With the area being almost exclusively hardwood forest and the leaves all off the trees it was a much different feel that what I usually ride which tends to be much thicker and full of evergreens. It also was helpful in following Amanda, as she and Kaesy (on his singlespeed) continually dropped us!! Finished up the day with some great oven-fired pizza at Blue Mountain Village before heading back home.

Starting to feel like getting back into some training and will likely ease back into next week (I do think I said that last week to a couple of people) and I have officially set December 1 as get back in the pool day. Hmmm, not sure I am looking forward to that one. I have also been indulging in some pretty good sleep-ins!!!