The Year of the Ox

Children dressed in tiger costumes perform during the opening of Longtan Temple Fair on the Lunar New Year Eve in Beijing. Photo: AP (from sydney Morning Herald)



The week has picked up and on Thursday I rode to work again getting up extra early heading out at 5 am and meeting up with Tony at Subi before going round to freemantle .Keith was supposed to join us but wasn't able to make it.The ride was not fast but I think with the wind it was a hard honest ride.I got to work at about 720am and did approximately 2over hours with about 55km on the speedo.

In the evening I rode home via the gymand did a 30 minute core work out .I clocked about 72 km for the day.

On Friday morning I was at the pool early and rode down for the first time.We did a warmup of 700 m mainly free with some 25m breast and backstrokes.The 200m x 9 set but I only managed 8 and then a cooldown .I realised that the reason I really swim at one pace is that my strok is not really efficient and probably my hand is pushing down more than back and that is causing my legs to drag as my head /upper body is pushed upwards so the faster i try to go the more drag I create.The trick is correcting it which isn't that easy but something to focus on.

It was a good workout and I did 2.7km then rode to work and back home after work adding another 28 km .

Saturday is Chinese New Year Eve and the year of the Ox ends and the year of the Tiger Begins.

From the Chinese Zodiac website (http://www.yearofthetiger.net/);

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2010 is the Year of the Tiger, which commences on February 14, 2010 and ends on February 2, 2011. The Tiger is the third sign in the Chinese Zodiac cycle, and it is a sign of bravery. This courageous and fiery fighter is admired by the ancient Chinese as the sign that keeps away the three main tragedies of a household. These are fire, thieves and ghosts.

Tigers are physically powerful, gracious, independent and brave, they are extremely bold animals. They are friendly and loving but can also selfish and short tempered. Tigers seek attention and power; frequently they are envious in a relation. Tigers live dangerously which often leads to trouble.

So as the year of the OX ends , I will celebrate the start of the year of the Tiger with a hills ride and a Triathlon race on Sunday and hopefully it turns out to be a year of some dangerous but courageous experiences.