must feed the dragon

Yeah, really. Because of the Grand Prix settling down, we moved from our usual Wednesday practice site in Parc Jean-Drapeau to the cozier Canal Lachine near the Centre Gadbois (a revamped municipal sports complex complete with pool, rink, training room). I don't recall going there in recent years, but people (including parents) have told me how nice and relaxing it is for jogging, rollerblading, biking or all of the above.

I already missed two practices, one last week because I totally didn't sleep (ironically, I slept even less yesterday and the night before - vivement la St-Jean), and Monday b/c of you-know-what. I already arrived late, so missed the dry-land training (jogging a stretch of canal three times, and then setups beside the benches lining up the canal), and only did the jogging stretch twice. Twenty minutes later, at 8, we jumped in our stinky/rotten lifejackets and set sail for about an hour or really painful but educative rowing. The new teacher Almer is "all about technique" and taught us, among other things, to dip in the water "long and deep". But seriously, he was much better than the previous coaches we had. Basically, we focused on four points: 1- keeping both arms outside the boat, 2- bend your body and turn your torso when you redress, 3- make long and deep strides, and 4- keep your body square and straight at the end of your stride.

I was by far the worse of the team members, but everyone was nice. Can't let them down again, for sure. At this point, my arms are already starting to hurt, as well as torso and legs from the jogging. I guess that this is it: I can do so much more with this body.

On our way back, Jack dropped us off at Monk metro, and made us an improvised guided tour of the sights on Monk Avenue, which is an interesting-looking commercial artery outside of city centre (of course, everything in Mtl looks better in the summer - *everything* ;D). It had a multi-ethnic array of cuisines, grocery stores. I might like living in that area - that is if I can decide to take the jump or not...