whew what a week

Where oh where did last week go? If I think back it went something like this...
Thursday - it was WAY to nice out to be indoors so I climbed aboard the bike and hit the pavement.  I stayed mainly on the bike paths around my place as I am still building my clip-in shoe confidence out in the real world. A spin bike is NO comparison!

Friday - rest day and did I rest! I got home from work and watched a couple movies and went to bed.  It was great!

Saturday - I got up, had some homemade oatmeal...I actually forgot that the oats I use to make cookies with can actually be prepared as Oatmeal.  The old me would have preferred the oatmeal cookies instead, okay who am I kidding I would still prefer the cookies but food as fuel is starting to win out over the tasty and yummy factor...I better change the subject before I go back some cookies.

I had a two hour spin class, the longest on a bike seat yet and wrapped that up with a lovely 20 min run.  My second brick and it felt great! 

Sunday - Many of my fellow Sunday runners ran in the ATB Sunday so I was on a solo run.  Ok well, I'm usually on a solo run or at least it ends up that way about a half a k into the run cause these folks are seriously fast...one day...one day I will be able to keep up with them, or at least keep them in sight :)  Anyway I headed down to northshore for more hills.  I find I am running more of the hills and only walked a couple this time so there's another win. It's all in the small victories along the way.

When I got home dh and I followed the "stretching" video of the p90x program...I am still sore and this is their "rest day" exercise!?  I felt better after though and felt like I was able to stretch out a lot of pain from my run. 

On the way I had stopped off at MEC to reload on the running fuel and got side tracked in their clothing department. I really need to learn to go in there with cash in hand. I picked up a vest for cycling, I figured that would appease dh concerns with my road riding as its a neon green colour, serious I look like a construction sign but that's the point.

Monday...ah Monday I was so proud of myself! I went to bed with the determination of getting up at 5am and actually getting out of bed and going for a morning swim and I DID IT!  After you do something the first time it gets way easier.   I then hit a spin class after work to round out the day.

Tuesday...well that's today and the plan is to climb some stairs then climb then again and again and again.

just wanted to say

1550 yards in 45 mins (unassisted) WOOT WOOT!!!!  Would have been more if I made it out of bed on time lol

safer on the road?

The sun was shining and I actually got home before 6 pm so I got changed and strapped the bike on the back of the car.  I headed down the beach path figuring it would be fairly light in terms of foot traffic...boy was I wrong!  It was quiet down around the lift bridge and the couple kms to the west but the further I got the busier it got. 

I couldn't believe how many people just weave back and forth across the path completely oblivious to anyone approaching from behind.  There are people who let their kids wander all over the place out of arms reach or they let their dogs run as far as they want on the extending leashes, not great when they cut across the path, I nearly got taken out by one of them when I was on rollerblades last year.  Or the people who are too busy texting or even just can't be bothered to look before walking out on the path, you know do the left right left check, like you would when crossing the street.  I almost collided with a family tonight and mom's head was buried in her phone, she would never have seen me coming.  I was trying to call out yelling passing, or on your left and I know a few people heard me but not everyone realized I was talking to them. 

Please folks, if you make your way to the path for a stroll just try to be aware of what is around you.  I know perspective changes if your the one on wheels or not, I have run, rollerbladed and now biked it and in either way you have to be aware.

Ok, that was enough of a rant and public service announcement...

I cut my ride a little shorter than I wanted, but I just got tired of weaving through people, pets and carriages so I turned back. I'm still really glad I got out for a longer ride and gave my clip-in shoes a real go in the outdoors.  I was getting much more comfortable with locking in my shoes and riding.  I decided I might be safer on the roadway instead of the path and will have to check out different bike routes around town.

On another note, dinner was pretty healthy...take a look for yourself.  Baked fish with lemon dill sauce, steamed asparagus and some brown rice.

hump day means double day

I like hump day better when its almost over.  As I wrote the title of this entry I totally got this song in my head...ah come one you did too!

Yesterday I went for a run with the group. It was GORGEOUS outside so we hit the path and headed into the hammer.  Before yesterday I had only driven over the lift bridge, it's somewhat strange running over this bridge as the sidewalk is concrete and the roadway is metal grates.  The water was moving by pretty quickly as well with the wind.  I don't know for sure how far we ran but by mapping it, looks like it was about 8km.  Pretty good for an hour run!  Hopefully next time I am out for a long run, runtastic will make it and track all my data. 

Today, was double header day.  The alarm starting ringing 5am.  I snoozed at least once and crawled out of bed around 5:10.  I got ready and headed to the pool.  I do so much better when I am getting up to meet people, I need to be accountable to someone other than myself for the early bird workouts.  I had a great swim though and went 1600 meters without the aid of the pull-boy!  I felt like I was just gliding through the water, a really enjoyable workout.

This evening I had a strength training workout with the devil my good friend Ali.  She took a lot of joy in crafting tonight's workout and probably had more fun executing, I mean listening to me bitch and whine lol.  It was very boot camp and if you wanna bust your hump, then do one of these workouts. Seriously, a boot camp workout will do the trick!  At a moment of rebellion I told her she had to come to the next group stair workout.  (I wasn't kidding though Ali...get ready to climb!) 

After that I had a massage and holy cow did she find knots I didn't even knew I had. I knew I was tight and tense in areas but holy crap did it hurt when she hit certain spots. I am feel much better now though and am looking forward to another spin class tomorrow. I am ALSO looking forward to my rest day on Friday!

another week off to a good start

So I mentioned in my last post how my coach convinced me (somehow) to meet the team for the 8am run Sunday morning and just had to say I am SO glad she did!  While it was a little tough to get motivated to get up, especially since I lost the hour with the time change it was an amazing run.

We met at the mall and went over the game plan, I mean route plan.  Those running the ATB had a much longer than the rest of us, we were just running for a set time doing an out and back.  We headed out and pretty quickly everyone got into their pace.  I knew I would be bringing up the rear but that was fine...one day I will keep up...one day!

I made my way south connecting to lakeshore and headed west.  I followed the path along the road under the highway and before I knew it I was running along the gorgeous houses on northshore.  My glutes were giving me some feedback and I knew I was paying for the ride the day before.  I was keeping my heart rate in the neighbourhood of 166-174. 

At that rate it didn't take long before I was taking off my gloves and my toque and unzipping my coat. I checked the temp before i left the house and I blame this on my sleep deprivation, but I dressed myself as if I was running in -8 weather, not +5! What the heck was I thinking!!!  When I hit the 30 minute mark I had enough and lost the coat. It was even warm with it tied around my waist but I immediately cooled down...next time I wear the chilly half coat I got as it's much lighter. 

I figured the distanced I covered would have been maybe 6km, I thought this based on how my legs were feeling, okay it was really how my glutes felt. I realized after I made it back to the truck that my runtastic session had never started so no data from my run other than my hrt monitor. At least I had my calorie burn and burn calories did I, I burned 600 in that hour run. 
When I got home I mapped the route and was surprised to see that I went 7.4km!  I am getting faster :)

My plan for this morning was to hit the gym and do a swim, I had my bb alarm set for 5:05 and my usual clock set for 7 as back-up just in case.  Well, at 5:05 my bb did its thing I hit snooze and before I knew what happened it was 5:35 when I woke up with the phone still in my hand and my boy cat snuggled up next to me. Well, I'm sure you can assume what happened...the cat hypnotized me with his cuteness and cuddliness and in bed I stayed.   I really wanted to swim, I was practically dreaming about gliding through the water but it just didn't happen.  

Tonight however, a kick ass spin class happend and I burned another 600 calories.   I used my new spinning shoes for the first time tonight and it will definitely take some getting use to.  I found my left foot didn't feel like it was on the pedal enough but the right foot felt great.  I may have to adjust the clip but I think I will give a few goes and see if it feels better.  Over all though, super glad I picked up the shoes when I did, glad to start getting use to them before I am clipped in to a moving bike...what the hell have I got myself into lol

spin spin sugar

in case you now have the song in your head... you can listen here.

What's the only way to make up for missing the last four work outs? Do two in a row!   Ok so as you know I pretty much burnt myself out last Sunday after my race.   All in all it was totally worth it but I paid for it this week when my cold came back and it was angry.  I pretty much lost my voice and was stuffed up all week and was just plain tired.  That coupled with a few late nights at work (and when I saw late, I mean real late) I was done so when the alarm rang in the morning for the early bird workouts I shut it off and went back to beddy by. 

I got home from work this morning at 3:30am...that was a solid 18 hour day.  When I got home I was fumbling with my keys and while attempting to unlock the front door I set off the car alarm!  Thankfully I haven't seen any neighbours today! After that episode my heart was racing (everything is uber loud at that hour) so I was tossing and turning for a little while.  I had already decided that the 8 am track workout was out of the question and of course the little doubting devil was coming up with reasons why the spin class wasn't going to happen either. But, when as I lay there the guilt crept in and I got up and set my alarm for 9am. 

I think I woke up around 8:30 this morning and had a little convo with my husband.  I asked, should I really go to Spin today and he said "Yes!".  So that was that, I got up made a shake and some coffee and I was getting ready for spin.  This was the first tri group spin class I had attended.  There were a few people I run with regularly as well as the usually Saturday track crew. 

I got set up pretty much right in the front and started spinning.  I had brought a pack of jelly beans and  a tiny trial size granola bar.  I had a shake before I left the house but realized, this was not enough food...lesson learned, must get bars!  We saddled up and were spinning before I knew it.  I have been to a few spin classes now at the gym and each coach definitely has their own style.  I'm not sure what made today so different, maybe it was the real bikes in the room and big bright windows and maybe it was knowing a number of people in the room but I really enjoyed the class.  I had heard the couch will walk around and tighten your tension...not really sure why I thought they were kidding...but their weren't...she does.  My legs are proof lol.  It was a great class though and I'm looking forward to next Saturday.

Since I had bailed on the track workout I had my first brick workout today.  After my 90 minute ride I had a 20 minute run.  I put on a couple extra layers (including my Chilly Half  jacket) and switched into my running shoes.  I nearly bailed on the stairs, my legs felt like rubber.  I met up with one of the track guys as we headed for the door and it wasn't long before he was off.  Since it was just a twenty minute run I did a ten out and back keeping it simple and went about 2.6km.  I know I wasn't running as fast as I could but my legs were pretty rubbery so I think it was fine.  With the ride and the run I burned a total of 1225 calories today! 

 
I went home after and had another shake and the rest of the egg salad and some rye toast.  We then headed over to neworld and I got some new cycling shoes and pedals.  If you know me pretty well, then you have probably figured out by now the REAL reason I decided to take up triathlon...all the SHOES i get to buy!!! Shhhhhh don't tell Tony ;o) I also picked up a couple water bottles that will make riding a little easier, screw top lids aren't the greatest when you're on a bike.  So tomorrow my wonderful husband is going to help me get the new pedals on my bike and (here is really where the help comes in) help me learn how to use these freakin' clip-in shoes! The guy at the store gave me some great advice and made sure the pedals will release easily but this will be interesting! I am so excite to try out my new shoes I think I will have to go for a little spin tomorrow after my run.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened but I some how agreed to meet up with the team tomorrow at 8am for the group run which means I am basically gonna finish this post and go to bed since it's basically 10:45 already with the time change.

Good night or good morning depending on when you're reading this.

Chilly Half 2012

It was race day! I awoke before my alarm, when I looked out the kitchen window I saw a beautiful sunrise.  I had some breakfast, and got myself ready.  While I was packing my gels and gatorade I had some serious butterflies fluttering around in my stomach and my hrt monitor had my heart rate around 90-100 from race day nerves.  The weather had changed from my view out the window, as we drove down Brant Street the snow was flying through the air and it was about -8 i think.  With March having unpredictable weather I guess that's why it's the Chilly Half.   A few of us met up before heading and had some nerve-calming convos.  I was relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one with some race day jitters. 

It was about 9:50 when we headed to the starting line. We had a quick high-five and wished each other a great run.  I headed to the back of the pack finding the the 2:45 pace bunny.  It was about 10 am when I started runtastic I figured better to have that going then trying to get that and the music going right out of the gate.  I had my hrt monitor ready to go and hit start just as I crossed the starting line and got my playlist going. 

The race course took us south down Brant to Lakeshore, we turned by the beach path and went past the hospital.  The crowd was starting to thin a little nearing the turn-around point as the faster runners were really starting to move by.  The was the first time the really fast guys passed us and it's always incredible to see the "really fast" runners showing what they can do.   I still find it exciting and fun to run (or rollerblade) down major city streets, it's something special and you don't get to do that every day!

 

The crowd  at the starting line
(from the back of the pack)



After the first km I was still pretty close the 2:45 pace bunny, I slowed down for my first walk.  I started off with the fruit chews I packed for nutrition, these were something I used during training runs but I noticed something I never experience during any of my training runs.  After about 2 minutes of having just three or so chews my stomach just started to ache and cramp, not a stitch type of cramp, this was a different type of pain.  I quickly realized that every time I took any kind of nutrition my stomach was not happy about it.  The pain lasted for a minute or so at a time so I was lucky I could push through it and continued running.

I made the turn around and came back up towards lakeshore making my way through the downtown core.  I had already passed the 4 km marker and was on my way to passing my husband who was helping out at guelph line water station with my coach.  I think I heard Nancy before I saw her, she had her bullhorn...she wasn't kidding...and I called out to her as I was approaching the station.  My husband was helping out and gave me a cheer as I passed along with the rest of the people at the station and it totally perked me up.

When I was passing the 6 and 7km markers and the "really fast" guys were already making their return and us slower folks cheered them on as they passed.  It was incredible to see these guys already heading back!  I can't imagine how they must have felt...I know I how I felt and I was running my faster race ever.  I saw a few fellow iron canucks on the course and they were pushing hard and moving fast!  I hope one day I'll be able to keep up with them.

I was pushing myself harder than my last half race, I had a personal goal to finish in under 3hrs and I had a plan to do it.  I was running a faster run, I was pushing harder than I did in October at the Scotia race and by the half way point I was well on my way to making my goal time!  I was pretty happy to pass the half-way point knowing my goal was a real possibility and I knew at the very least I was half way done.

At appleby line I had another mini cheering section, Dad had come to cheer me on and it was great to see him there.  I was pushing hard and told him I would see him in 4 km.  My hips were getting pretty tight now and my stomach was still not happy with me. I was alternating with water and gels and gatorade but the cramping wasn't letting up.  I made the last turn-around at burloak and was happy to know I just had to get back to brant street now.  I passed dad again and we had a brief chat as I ran by, he told me to keep pushing and I said I only have 6 more to go! He was going to let my husband know I was on my way back. 

By this time my stomach was in complete knots and I gave up on nutrition and was just taking the smallest  sips of  gatorade.  I could see my husband at the station already had my fuel belt unclasped and handing it to him  before I could even pass him.  I had to get that thing off me.  He kept up with me for a moment as I passed and gave me some encouragement and Nancy was there pushing me on too.  I was about 2.5 km from the finish line by now.

My stomach was in complete knots and my calves were getting tighter and tighter.  I knew I was close and just kept pushing, I just wanted to finish and be done.   The second half was slower than my way out but when I saw the last couple of markers I knew I had come too far to give up (the thought of  having my husband drive me to the finish line crossed my mind before I passed by him at guelph line).  I saw the final marker and just kept pushing, my music had ended as it happen to have 2:59:00 minutes of play time.  I checked my watch and I had passed the three hour point, I wasn't disappointed because I knew I was pushing as hard as I could and when I turned the corner from lakeshore to go back up Brant I just pushed that last little bit, I needed to be done.  I saw my husband at the finish line, he made there just in time!



I ended up finishing with a chip time of 3:04:34.  I worked my way through the finish chute, got a bottle of water and they hung my medal around my neck.  I just wanted to find my husband, I couldn't think of anything else.  I saw him and pretty much dropped everything and stretched out my calves.  I have NEVER felt like I felt after that race. I felt like I was going to throw up and burst into tears at the same time. Thankfully neither happened but it felt like minutes went by but it probably wasn't very long before I calmed down, caught my breath.



I did it!!!



Even though I didn't make my goal time finishing under 3 hours as I had set out to do, and the race itself was hard and hurt like hell, I am extremely proud of my time and just doing it in the first place. I also beat my time from the Oct 2011 Scotia half by 15m 24s!!!

The only thing I can figure that caused all the cramping was not having enough water the day before and morning of as nothing I ate was out of the ordinary. I do wonder though what time I would have had if my stomach didn't give me so much trouble...I guess I will have to find out in May!