The plan - to ride a minimum of 5 hours and 120 km. The details of the plan - to ride easy the first hour, then my goal pace for 2-3 hour marks, then just above for the 4 hour mark, then harder for 30 minutes, then easy.
Ah yes, the best laid plans of mice and men, go oft awry...
The plan looked good. I thought, cool, I'm going to aim for 27 km/h as my goal pace and go from there. Perhaps though, I should have taken into consideration my route and whether or not this would be achieveable.
The route I went is one I really love. I call it the Horse Creek / Lochend Rd loop. It's one that Leslie and I rode a few times and Mr. Mike B. and I rode as part of our mega 210 km ride last summer. I love it because the majority is through the countryside. It's also a challenging ride (this is the part I seemed to forget when I thought about my goal pace).
A first for this trip - I was going to ride it solo. I've done all but one of my long rides solo, but all in the relative safety of my basement. Worse case scenario down there is my bike comes loose from the trainer and I ride swiftly into a wall. I called Leslie this morning and asked if she'd be my rescuer if need be - she agreed thankfully. I truly hoped I wouldn't need to call her!
So off into the country I went. I quickly biked out of town and headed north on Horse Creek Road. The first thing I noticed was the wind. Holy hannah it was friggin blowin! To illustrate: I looked down and saw my shadow on the road. The wind was so strong that my braids looked like they were sticking straight out of the back of my head. I can just imagine what it looked like in real life.
I was praying to Mother Nature to keep the wind blowing this way because I knew I had a loooong climb towards the end of the ride and I really didn't want to face a headwind then. I know sometimes the wind can get to a person, but I was determined not to let it. In fact I was laughing at times because I'd be riding west at an ok click, then turn to go north again and whammo! I'd practically come to a screeching halt. I even had to stand on the flats just to keep moving forward.
Finally I made it to Bottrel. I stopped for a bit of water at the general store, and to pet the store's cat, then continued on east to Hwy 22. Then north again to 290, then east again. I was having to lean into the wind a bit going east, but at least it was just a cross wind.
The thing about this ride is it's all about the climb. You climb a few good hills on Horse Creek, then somemore past Bottrel, then it's a steady, yet slight, climb to Lochend Road. And Lochend? Well Lochend Road is like San Fransisco. Up, level, up, level, uuuuuup, level, doooooown, upppppp. I love it!
It didn't take me too long into my ride to realize that 'the plan' wasn't going to quite work. I'd love to ride 27 km/h up hills, but that's not for a few years. ;) Not to mention the 30 km/h winds. Rather than get flustered about not being able to follow the plan (which is what I used to do) I thought, 'new plan'!! I decided I'd make sure my cadence was greater than 60 rpm up hills and on the downhill and flats I was going to give it my best shot to achieve my goal pace.
For the most part it worked, and it made it an enjoyable ride. I was a smiling giggling fool most of the way. Even when the bumble bee smoked my cheek (I only saw his fluffy body when it was a few centimeters away from impact. Hopefully he survived!). And even when the wee ant with the power of flight landed in my profile bottle and got caught up in the mesh of the sponge (When I stopped at the golf course for a pee break I couldn't find him, which leads me to believe I got a little extra protein today or he managed to use his power of flight to escape - I so hope so!)
As I was climbing up Lochend I spotted a cyclist waaaay out in front of me. So I thought, hmmm, there's a nice challenge. Let's see if I can catch them. I then turned into Ms. Pacman...chomp, chomp, chomp. I pedaled like mad. I had some great speed on the flats, and climbed like a pro. Slowly but surely I was catching up. Chomp, chomp, chomp.
I was coming up to the hill he was climbing. He was slowing down on the hill while I was picking up my pace. NOW I HAVE YOU!! My bike, Eleanor, and my quadzilla's were no match for Mr. Mountain Biker! HA! (Okay, it would have been a sweeter victory had he been on a road or tri bike, but hey, you gotta take what you can get!) As I passed him I made sure to say a cheery 'Hey there!'. My grin went from ear to ear.
Finally I was up Lochend and back on Hwy 1A. The wind had shifted now and coming from the west. I pedaled as hard as I could. I practically flew down Cochrane hill - no brakes! It was brilliant. When I got into town I was going as fast as this one truck and when I looked over there was a little girl staring at me out this truck window I was riding beside. I think she was in shock I was going as fast as the vehicle she was in. I gave her a big smile and she smiled back. It was so sweet.
My ride was awesome. I had a great time out there. With the wind behind my back I got up to 50 km/h on the flats! I was in heaven. The only real challenge I had for the ride was my asthma. Stupid me forgot my damn inhaler. About 45 minutes in I started feeling it in my lungs. I'm allergic to pretty much everything in the country so it always sets off my asthma. For the last half of the ride I was coughing a lot and couldn't get a good breath in. It certainly made climbing more interesting! I was having too much fun out there to let it get to me though.
By the time I got back into town I decided I'd ride straight home as I needed to get a hit of my puffer. I knew I'd be around 104 km and thought I'd just finish it off on the trainer to get in the 120km. So that's what I did.
When I got home I checked out the bike computer and saw that I'd ridden 110.1 km in 4:40 hours. Nice. Oh, and look at that...my top speed was 70 km/h! I'm pretty sure it was coming down this one hill on Lochend. Weeeeeeee!!! Overall my pace was not as fast as I had wanted, but given the conditions, I was happy with it. I felt strong for the most part and that's what counted.
I finished off the last 10 km on the trainer easily to make it 120 km. My total ride time was 5:10 hours. I didn't end up going for my brick run because my chest was hurting, I was still coughing and having troubles breathing. Lesson learned. I doubt I'll forget my inhaler next time!
I'm still smiling over today's ride. What a great day!
Peace out my friends.
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Ew! Is That A Snot Stringer???
Well, after a triumphant weekend, it's been a relatively easy week. My legs wouldn't let me do anything else...and I always listen when body parts start talking to me.
Actually, my legs weren't too bad, until I tried to go up and down the stairs...a few times. You see, my job requires me to go up or down to the 4th and 6th floors (I'm on the 5th). Typically, this is never an issue, and I like the little boost of energy it gives me. Monday was a different story, however.
When I got up in the morning I could feel the fatigue in my legs from my killer weekend. I wasn't troubled by it though and still had a cheesy grin on my face. I walked from the train to work, albeit a little bit slower than normal. Usually I pick off people I want to pass - this time I let them go by. No worries.
I told myself that today I would be forgiven for taking the elevator the one level...but I just couldn't do it. Actually, I thought that perhaps if I went up the stairs that it would work things out a bit. Uhm, my legs didn't quite see it that way.
After the third 'set' of stairs I got to the stairwell door and thought, 'Either I'm going to faint or spew...'. Neither would be a good thing at work. Instead I let out a 'YEOWZA!' as I felt the sting go through my legs. I told my legs, 'Okay, okay, I promise no more stairs...point taken!!'. Thankfully, no one was in the stairwell listening to me beg forgiveness from my poor quadzilla's.
I figured a swim in the pool on Tuesday morning would loosen things up a bit more. Of course, I guess I would have to actually kick if that were to happen...and what triathlete kicks?! Isn't that what wetsuits are for? To make you buoyant so you don't ever have to learn to kick??
I still felt a wee bit fatigued, but it was nice to be in the water. Until the incident. I was swimming along my merry way when I spotted what I had hoped and prayed was just a floating bit of tissue. (Just for the record I'm doing my best not to dry heave as I write this - it's not really working though.) I swam around it and proceeded to swim, hoping I didn't get any on me cap.
The next lap it was still floating there, and I was starting to panic. What the hell is that?! The lap after, I thought it had floated into the boys lane...but when I got back...it was there! Okay, that's it, I have to stop and somehow remove this thing from the pool. Without using any part of my body of course.
I got one of my flip flops and tried to 'catch' it and flip it on the pool edge, but it was slimy and stringy and would slip off and break and land back in the pool and, and, and. Oh gag... All I could think about was Jenna talking about snot stringers. I was doing my best not to let a bone chilling scream emit from my mouth. The boys stopped swimming to see what I was doing and the lifeguard asked what was up. When I showed her the slop I was scooping I thought she was going to hurl too. I swear, we were seconds away from a friggin chunder fest!
I finally got the snot stringer or whatever it was out of the pool and off my flip flops. I could barely concentrate the rest of the swim as I kept thinking there might be more out there. YIPES!
Really though, it could have been worse...it could have been a snot stringer caught up in a hairball...gack...
Excuse me while I go launch my lunch...
Peace out my friends.
Actually, my legs weren't too bad, until I tried to go up and down the stairs...a few times. You see, my job requires me to go up or down to the 4th and 6th floors (I'm on the 5th). Typically, this is never an issue, and I like the little boost of energy it gives me. Monday was a different story, however.
When I got up in the morning I could feel the fatigue in my legs from my killer weekend. I wasn't troubled by it though and still had a cheesy grin on my face. I walked from the train to work, albeit a little bit slower than normal. Usually I pick off people I want to pass - this time I let them go by. No worries.
I told myself that today I would be forgiven for taking the elevator the one level...but I just couldn't do it. Actually, I thought that perhaps if I went up the stairs that it would work things out a bit. Uhm, my legs didn't quite see it that way.
After the third 'set' of stairs I got to the stairwell door and thought, 'Either I'm going to faint or spew...'. Neither would be a good thing at work. Instead I let out a 'YEOWZA!' as I felt the sting go through my legs. I told my legs, 'Okay, okay, I promise no more stairs...point taken!!'. Thankfully, no one was in the stairwell listening to me beg forgiveness from my poor quadzilla's.
I figured a swim in the pool on Tuesday morning would loosen things up a bit more. Of course, I guess I would have to actually kick if that were to happen...and what triathlete kicks?! Isn't that what wetsuits are for? To make you buoyant so you don't ever have to learn to kick??
I still felt a wee bit fatigued, but it was nice to be in the water. Until the incident. I was swimming along my merry way when I spotted what I had hoped and prayed was just a floating bit of tissue. (Just for the record I'm doing my best not to dry heave as I write this - it's not really working though.) I swam around it and proceeded to swim, hoping I didn't get any on me cap.
The next lap it was still floating there, and I was starting to panic. What the hell is that?! The lap after, I thought it had floated into the boys lane...but when I got back...it was there! Okay, that's it, I have to stop and somehow remove this thing from the pool. Without using any part of my body of course.
I got one of my flip flops and tried to 'catch' it and flip it on the pool edge, but it was slimy and stringy and would slip off and break and land back in the pool and, and, and. Oh gag... All I could think about was Jenna talking about snot stringers. I was doing my best not to let a bone chilling scream emit from my mouth. The boys stopped swimming to see what I was doing and the lifeguard asked what was up. When I showed her the slop I was scooping I thought she was going to hurl too. I swear, we were seconds away from a friggin chunder fest!
I finally got the snot stringer or whatever it was out of the pool and off my flip flops. I could barely concentrate the rest of the swim as I kept thinking there might be more out there. YIPES!
Really though, it could have been worse...it could have been a snot stringer caught up in a hairball...gack...
Excuse me while I go launch my lunch...
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 27 April 2008
SHAZZAM! What A Weekend!!!
What an amazing weekend! Not to mention a huge training weekend. Kelsey and I rode for 3 hours on Saturday. On the trainers, unfortunately, but when we met up it was still a bit chilly out. The trainer said 70 km. Not bad. I was doing 10/5’s and felt pretty good for the most part. Towards the end it was getting harder as I was trying to keep my speed up around 28 km/h during the 10 minute sections.
Once in a while I would utter an ‘OUCH!’ and Kelsey would laugh. Gotta love when your buddy laughs at your pain! Just another reason she’s my friend. LOL. It was a ton more fun being on the trainer and having a buddy there. I even let her have music on!! No reason she had to follow my ‘no tv and no music’ rule. Plus, during the breaks we were chit chatting. Although I did notice in the last hour it got quieter; I think we were both getting a bit pooped.
After the trainer session we headed out for a run. What a gorgeous day it turned out to be!! By the time we headed out it was sunny and warm. YAY! We had a great ½ hour run. I enjoyed showing Kelsey a bit of my neighborhood and where I train.
Sunday was time for the Policeman’s Half Marathon. I have to admit, I’ve never done a three hour training ride the day before a friggin half marathon! I wanted to get a ride in though and this race wasn’t a goal race or anything.
I drove to the race this morning with Richelle. We were stoked that it was so nice outside. My plan for today was to run, and that was it. I figured I would just go by feel, if my legs felt good, I’d run as fast as they would take me. An easy plan really.
It’s funny, because for a while I really didn’t feel like doing this race. I even said if the shirts were ugly I wouldn’t do it. (Cause you can’t wear a shirt when you don’t do the race!). Low and behold, the shirts were ugly, but by then I decided I wanted to do this. I almost felt like I had to do this. I’m not sure why.
By the morning of the race I was excited about doing it. It was going to be nice out and it’s a great course really. When we’d got to the race, I met up with a ton of people I knew. It reminded why I love being involved in running and triathlon – what a great community!
At the start of the race I had met up with my good friend Sean, who had gotten me involved in running three years ago. Last year we ran this race together in my attempt to break 2 hours. This year both of us were just running it to run it. So when the ‘gun’ went off, we ran!
I hadn’t seen Sean in a long time, so for the first bit we chatted and got caught up on life, work and his family. Shortly after our friend Jenny caught up with us. It was then the three musketeers. Although we were running together, we still did our own thing.
I felt great during the run. Not to mention totally surprised that my legs felt this good after my bike yesterday. I had picked up my pace at about the 12 km mark and kept going.
We made it down to the Weaslehead, although it was pretty icy down there. The police were there to slow everyone down and I even saw one dude wipe out. Yikes! The tiptoeing around the ice gave me a bit of a break and then I was off again. I had no idea what my pace was at that point. I had seen that I was at the 0:57 minutes at the 10 km mark. I just can’t calculate pace on the run though, so I by the time I hit the 15 km mark and the hill out of Weaslehead I had no idea how I was doing and really, I didn’t care. All I knew is I felt like the wind, so I kept running like that.
They had a group of bagpipers at the top of the hill – it was so awesome! Tickled the Scotswoman in me, that’s for sure.
The last few kilometers of the run were challenging, but I was in a groove. Finally I was at the school, I rounded the corner and saw the Finish Line sign. YAY! I crossed the mat and shut my watch off. That’s when I noticed it….I’d had a personal best run!! Kelsey was there cheering on the finishers so I ran up to her with gave her a hug and was practically yelling ‘I PR’d!!’. I was on cloud nine.
I went into this race with the attitude that I was just going run by feel and have a great time. Not expectations, no worrying about the outcome. Sure enough I had a great surprise at the end of it! Oh and later on I realized I had run my first negative split. It really can’t get better than that…or could it?!
Get this - after the run, Richelle, Lisa, Kelsey, Dr. Phil and I went for a 57 km bike ride!!! Seriously, never in my entire life would I have thought that I could ride 3 hours on one day, run a PR in a half marathon the next day, then friggin ride for 57 km after the half marathon. INSANE!!! We did the Horse Creek loop and it was brilliant. I felt great, but was pretty slow on the uphills. Gee, I wonder why?! I couldn’t keep up with the gang once we hit the hills, but they were sweet and stopped for me at the stop signs. Normally, I’d say keep going, but today I appreciated it. I had tried to keep up for while, just so I could draft! Alas, I’d lose them after a bit.
Seriously, I had a smile from ear to ear the entire ride. Even the mega headwind on the way back didn’t bother me. I was just happy to be out there and riding. In fact, I had the Peanuts theme song going through my head most of the way (cause it’s really hard to do the Snoopy Happy Dance while on the bike).
Man, I’m on a major endorphin high right now. What a great friggin weekend! I got to bike and run the whole time IN THE SUNSHINE, hang out with my buds and see some friends who have been absent from my life and whom I’ve truly missed. Life is damn good!
Peace out my friends.
Once in a while I would utter an ‘OUCH!’ and Kelsey would laugh. Gotta love when your buddy laughs at your pain! Just another reason she’s my friend. LOL. It was a ton more fun being on the trainer and having a buddy there. I even let her have music on!! No reason she had to follow my ‘no tv and no music’ rule. Plus, during the breaks we were chit chatting. Although I did notice in the last hour it got quieter; I think we were both getting a bit pooped.
After the trainer session we headed out for a run. What a gorgeous day it turned out to be!! By the time we headed out it was sunny and warm. YAY! We had a great ½ hour run. I enjoyed showing Kelsey a bit of my neighborhood and where I train.
Sunday was time for the Policeman’s Half Marathon. I have to admit, I’ve never done a three hour training ride the day before a friggin half marathon! I wanted to get a ride in though and this race wasn’t a goal race or anything.
I drove to the race this morning with Richelle. We were stoked that it was so nice outside. My plan for today was to run, and that was it. I figured I would just go by feel, if my legs felt good, I’d run as fast as they would take me. An easy plan really.
It’s funny, because for a while I really didn’t feel like doing this race. I even said if the shirts were ugly I wouldn’t do it. (Cause you can’t wear a shirt when you don’t do the race!). Low and behold, the shirts were ugly, but by then I decided I wanted to do this. I almost felt like I had to do this. I’m not sure why.
By the morning of the race I was excited about doing it. It was going to be nice out and it’s a great course really. When we’d got to the race, I met up with a ton of people I knew. It reminded why I love being involved in running and triathlon – what a great community!
At the start of the race I had met up with my good friend Sean, who had gotten me involved in running three years ago. Last year we ran this race together in my attempt to break 2 hours. This year both of us were just running it to run it. So when the ‘gun’ went off, we ran!
I hadn’t seen Sean in a long time, so for the first bit we chatted and got caught up on life, work and his family. Shortly after our friend Jenny caught up with us. It was then the three musketeers. Although we were running together, we still did our own thing.
I felt great during the run. Not to mention totally surprised that my legs felt this good after my bike yesterday. I had picked up my pace at about the 12 km mark and kept going.
We made it down to the Weaslehead, although it was pretty icy down there. The police were there to slow everyone down and I even saw one dude wipe out. Yikes! The tiptoeing around the ice gave me a bit of a break and then I was off again. I had no idea what my pace was at that point. I had seen that I was at the 0:57 minutes at the 10 km mark. I just can’t calculate pace on the run though, so I by the time I hit the 15 km mark and the hill out of Weaslehead I had no idea how I was doing and really, I didn’t care. All I knew is I felt like the wind, so I kept running like that.
They had a group of bagpipers at the top of the hill – it was so awesome! Tickled the Scotswoman in me, that’s for sure.
The last few kilometers of the run were challenging, but I was in a groove. Finally I was at the school, I rounded the corner and saw the Finish Line sign. YAY! I crossed the mat and shut my watch off. That’s when I noticed it….I’d had a personal best run!! Kelsey was there cheering on the finishers so I ran up to her with gave her a hug and was practically yelling ‘I PR’d!!’. I was on cloud nine.
I went into this race with the attitude that I was just going run by feel and have a great time. Not expectations, no worrying about the outcome. Sure enough I had a great surprise at the end of it! Oh and later on I realized I had run my first negative split. It really can’t get better than that…or could it?!
Get this - after the run, Richelle, Lisa, Kelsey, Dr. Phil and I went for a 57 km bike ride!!! Seriously, never in my entire life would I have thought that I could ride 3 hours on one day, run a PR in a half marathon the next day, then friggin ride for 57 km after the half marathon. INSANE!!! We did the Horse Creek loop and it was brilliant. I felt great, but was pretty slow on the uphills. Gee, I wonder why?! I couldn’t keep up with the gang once we hit the hills, but they were sweet and stopped for me at the stop signs. Normally, I’d say keep going, but today I appreciated it. I had tried to keep up for while, just so I could draft! Alas, I’d lose them after a bit.
Seriously, I had a smile from ear to ear the entire ride. Even the mega headwind on the way back didn’t bother me. I was just happy to be out there and riding. In fact, I had the Peanuts theme song going through my head most of the way (cause it’s really hard to do the Snoopy Happy Dance while on the bike).
Man, I’m on a major endorphin high right now. What a great friggin weekend! I got to bike and run the whole time IN THE SUNSHINE, hang out with my buds and see some friends who have been absent from my life and whom I’ve truly missed. Life is damn good!
Peace out my friends.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Keeping The Perspective...
So I have not been happy of late. Well, mostly not happy on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Why? Because my bikes on those nights have been sucking. Big time. That’s WHEN I can actually get them done. It’s been brutal and I’ve been really upset about it.
Here’s the stupid thing. I kept trying and not succeeding and getting more and more frustrated, but I didn’t tell IG. Well, I think I did mention it one time, but I didn’t really explain how long it had been going on or how I’d been feeling. So how exactly could he help me right?
By the time I did say something, or rather write something as I was so upset I knew I’d burst into tears when I talked to him, so instead I sent an email, my perspective about the whole situation was totally out of whack. I pretty much had thrown my goal time for IMCDA out the window, figured I was the worst triathlete EVER and had no mental gumption whatsoever. The email was so negative that IG was so disappointed, he couldn’t write back that evening.
Typically I have a really positive nature about training, life, and keep a good perspective on things. So why did it all go to hell? I haven’t actually figured that out yet, but I have a few ideas.
First off, training for an early season event can be somewhat challenging when the winter seems to be dragging along and you can’t get outside to ride. I think the lack of sun and vitamin D have also been playing a role in this. Perhaps I should get one of those S.A.D. lights, haha.
Second, I swim before work on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Then I work a long day, have a long commute and am exhausted when I get home. Had I kept things in perspective I would have realized that I’m just too damned tired those evenings to be able to dig deep and push a hard workout. I wouldn’t have been thinking ‘why am I so weak?!’ I would have contacted my coach and said, ‘Look, I need to change things up because this isn’t working for me’. It’s silly really. I was so caught up in looking towards the race I let things get way out of hand in my mind.
So that leads me to another thing that contributed to me losing perspective. I have been spending way too much time in the future. No, I haven’t been time traveling; rather my thoughts have been in the future a lot. Now this is a bad habit that I’ve needed to break for a long time. I keep thinking about outcomes. The outcome of races, especially Ironman and outcomes of life choices.
In truth, I don’t think this is necessarily a trait uncommon to triathletes, or athletes in general. We constantly plan and think about what we have to do this week, the next week and so on. If it’s not planning our training, its planning our food, planning our races, planning our traveling, hell, planning what we are going to wear! Will it be the black tights with red top and matching toque, or the black spandex and purple top with clashing green toque?!
Thing is, I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing to do this all the time. I think it can contribute to losing perspective on things. At least it did for me. What I need to be focusing on is the ‘right now’. I’ve had some help with this. I’m seeing a life coach who’s helping me, as well as reading Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’, which I love.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been riding in the dungeon without music or the t.v. on. I want to train myself to stay in the present moment, not only when I’m training, but when it comes to race time.
I don’t want to be thinking of the bike when I’m in the water, or the run when I’m on the bike. I want to think of each stroke and kick when I’m in the swim. I want to be smooth and relaxed on the bike; have power and cadence. This time I actually want to run on the run! I want to be completely in touch with my body and mind.
This hasn’t been easy for me or my brain gerbil, but we are learning. The times I have maintained focus and stayed in the present, whether its during a swim, on the trainer or on a run, have been bliss. It’s truly a zen like feeling when it happens, even if it doesn’t happen too often yet. Of course, I’ve also been practicing this in my daily life and found that I’m more at peace.
So I will continue to practice staying in the moment and therefore keeping things in perspective. No more thinking about outcomes! Whatever happens on those days will, so there is no sense wasting brain energy on it now.
All together now…’OHMMMMMM’.
Peace out my friends.
Here’s the stupid thing. I kept trying and not succeeding and getting more and more frustrated, but I didn’t tell IG. Well, I think I did mention it one time, but I didn’t really explain how long it had been going on or how I’d been feeling. So how exactly could he help me right?
By the time I did say something, or rather write something as I was so upset I knew I’d burst into tears when I talked to him, so instead I sent an email, my perspective about the whole situation was totally out of whack. I pretty much had thrown my goal time for IMCDA out the window, figured I was the worst triathlete EVER and had no mental gumption whatsoever. The email was so negative that IG was so disappointed, he couldn’t write back that evening.
Typically I have a really positive nature about training, life, and keep a good perspective on things. So why did it all go to hell? I haven’t actually figured that out yet, but I have a few ideas.
First off, training for an early season event can be somewhat challenging when the winter seems to be dragging along and you can’t get outside to ride. I think the lack of sun and vitamin D have also been playing a role in this. Perhaps I should get one of those S.A.D. lights, haha.
Second, I swim before work on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Then I work a long day, have a long commute and am exhausted when I get home. Had I kept things in perspective I would have realized that I’m just too damned tired those evenings to be able to dig deep and push a hard workout. I wouldn’t have been thinking ‘why am I so weak?!’ I would have contacted my coach and said, ‘Look, I need to change things up because this isn’t working for me’. It’s silly really. I was so caught up in looking towards the race I let things get way out of hand in my mind.
So that leads me to another thing that contributed to me losing perspective. I have been spending way too much time in the future. No, I haven’t been time traveling; rather my thoughts have been in the future a lot. Now this is a bad habit that I’ve needed to break for a long time. I keep thinking about outcomes. The outcome of races, especially Ironman and outcomes of life choices.
In truth, I don’t think this is necessarily a trait uncommon to triathletes, or athletes in general. We constantly plan and think about what we have to do this week, the next week and so on. If it’s not planning our training, its planning our food, planning our races, planning our traveling, hell, planning what we are going to wear! Will it be the black tights with red top and matching toque, or the black spandex and purple top with clashing green toque?!
Thing is, I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing to do this all the time. I think it can contribute to losing perspective on things. At least it did for me. What I need to be focusing on is the ‘right now’. I’ve had some help with this. I’m seeing a life coach who’s helping me, as well as reading Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’, which I love.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been riding in the dungeon without music or the t.v. on. I want to train myself to stay in the present moment, not only when I’m training, but when it comes to race time.
I don’t want to be thinking of the bike when I’m in the water, or the run when I’m on the bike. I want to think of each stroke and kick when I’m in the swim. I want to be smooth and relaxed on the bike; have power and cadence. This time I actually want to run on the run! I want to be completely in touch with my body and mind.
This hasn’t been easy for me or my brain gerbil, but we are learning. The times I have maintained focus and stayed in the present, whether its during a swim, on the trainer or on a run, have been bliss. It’s truly a zen like feeling when it happens, even if it doesn’t happen too often yet. Of course, I’ve also been practicing this in my daily life and found that I’m more at peace.
So I will continue to practice staying in the moment and therefore keeping things in perspective. No more thinking about outcomes! Whatever happens on those days will, so there is no sense wasting brain energy on it now.
All together now…’OHMMMMMM’.
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
The IronGod's Must Be Crazy...
Last year when I was doing my long rides I had a ton to write about, because I was outside. As I told a friend earlier this week, who commented I had been quiet, one can't write too many exciting things about staring at a couple of walls in one's basement...
I assume the IronGods heard me, so they decided to spice things up a bit.
Today's ride was going to be about 4 hours long so I wanted to be on my Cervelo, rather than the Cannondale. It's about time I got used to being in the aeros for long periods. First off I had to change the back tire to an old trainer tire. I'm pretty quick at changing tires, so this was no biggie. I got all my nutrition ready and headed for the dungeon, I mean basement.
Next off I had to add the 'lift' to my trainer so it would accommodate the Cervelo tire, which are wee 650 tires. Again, no biggie, with the help of my handy dandy ratchet and allan keys. Finally, everything was all set up and I was good to go. I hopped on the bike and started warming up when I noticed that I wasn't getting any readings on my computer. What the....?
Dammit, the speed monitor is on my front spoke! Mumble, mumble, mumble. As IG's program was about speed today, I needed to have readings. Fine, I'll just unwrap it from the brake cable, unsnap the one clip from the spoke, and move the monitor to the back. Easier said then done of course.
Dale set up my computer, so needless to say it was hooked up in a way to never, ever, ever moved or be removed. Finally I got it all undone and attached to the back fork. The clip that goes on the spoke was another issue. It didn't want to clip back on. I will spare you with all the gory details or how long it took me, suffice it to say with the help of some needle nose pliers I was able to partially squish it together. I used a bit of scotch tape just to make sure it wouldn't slide down the spoke too.
Okay, with that done, all should be fine, right? Wrong. I got back on the bike started pedaling and realized the back tire was slipping. For the love of....what now?! I checked my back tire and felt it was slipping on the trainer. Adjusted the the tension and tried it again. That's when I realized the damn tire was FLAT! My heart rate monitor was showing a slightly elevated heart rate at this point. I was doing fairly well staying calm though - I figured this is just one of those things and as long as I stay relaxed, it will get fixed and I can start my workout.
Thankfully I remembered to take all my nutrition off my bike and removed my profile bottle BEFORE flipping my bike over to change the tube. Once again I practiced my tube changing skills. I saw that in the process of inflating the tube when I changed the tire I had ripped the valve stem. I've done this sooo many times before using the pump I have that it's rather annoying. Finally, it was all done, bike was righted, nutrition put back on, computer was working, tire was inflated, tension was adjusted and heart rate was fairly reasonable.
So I started pedaling....
Okay, this was good. Everything was working. Nice. Hope the IronGods got a good chuckle out of all that excitement! Time to focus and ride.
I kept the T.V. off and had no music on. I wanted to try and focus on what was going on with my body and my mind. For the first 1.5 hours all was well. I was following the program - I did a 30 minute warm up, then did four 10/5 sets. For the 10 minute segments I was to pedal at 27 km/h and then go down to 25 km/h for the 5 minute segments. And so I did.
The next hour I was to do the same thing, but pedal between 27-28 km/h. I managed to pedal between 27.5 and 28.5 km/h. I was really struggling with my focus though. External problems that started in the first hour were now starting to grate me. The nerve in my shoulder was zinging big time when I was in the aero's. I kept sliding on my saddle so that my seat bones weren't positioned where they should be. This meant I had to keep sliding back every few minutes. Rather annoying when you are trying to keep a steady pace.
With all this sliding I wasn't able to keep my shoulder blades down, which is what I had to do to get my shoulder to stop hurting. Seriously, I wanted to scream. Instead, I kept telling myself to focus on my breath. To keep going.
My mind would then slip to the position of my saddle and how I could change it. I must be on a down angle or something. Nuts! Then I thought of the height of my aerobars, maybe I need to raise them. Then I'd realize I wasn't focussing and would get all pissed. At about 2:10 hours into my ride I realized I needed to call someone...so I did.
I, of course, called Gregory as I felt he was partially responsible for the situation. There was no answer, so I left a message that went something like this...
"I really needed to complain to someone, so I choose you. I F***ING HATE THIS! My legs hurt, my shoulder is killing me, I keep sliding on my seat, we need to raise the aerobars, I can't focus, I can't stay in the aero's, I don't have the tv on or radio and I'm going to try and do that as long as possible. Oh, the one good thing is I'm achieving the speeds you want me to. Bye.". (I learned after my workout IG got a great laugh out of this message - at least someone was laughing! I wasn't at the time, but certainly can now).
The remaining ride I did my best to stay focussed. I'm proud to report that I was able to for the most part. I wasn't the happiest triathlete though. If you think Lisa Bentley's grimace is scary, you should have seen mine. It would have given an indication what was going on in my brain. As I went up in speed (I had worked up to 29.5 km/h for the sets) my grimace got more severe. Until I realized this was taking up way too much energy, then I stopped and made my face neutral. My legs were burning towards the end. Finally, I finished the last set. I just had to do a 1/2 hour cool down at 25 km/h.
Bang! I was at 4 hours. YES! It was then I allowed myself to see how far I'd ridden. (I was hoping to be at 100 km. I flipped through my computer screens...94 something km. NUTS!!!! The next screen indicated I'd only ridden for 3:51 hours.
You see, I'd taken a couple of bathroom breaks and just before my phone call to Gregory I had to take a mental break. I stopped pedaling and had a little talk with myself about focussing on the present and not thinking about my shoulder, the race, etc etc. Apparantly this took longer than I thought.
I couldn't leave the situation as is. So I started pedalling - fast. I pedalled around 30 km/h. I have no idea how I found the strength in my legs! I watched every second that ticked down until it said 4:00 hours. Sweet! I flicked the screen over and saw that I had ridden..... 98.7 km!
I will refrain from writing out the obscenities that then spewed from my mouth. They aren't for the faint of heart...
Once again I pedalled my heart out until the monitor read 100km. At last! The time was 4:03 hours. DONE, DONE, DONE!
Oh how I wanted to just sit on the ground and stretch. Things hurt. Lots of things. Unfortunately, I had a 1/2 hour run to do. I seriously wasn't sure how the hell I was going to pull this off. My quads were screaming.
I switched clothes (as mine were saturated), bundled up for the cold and off I went. I was hoping my braids wouldn't freeze and break off. Yes, it was that cold. As I started running I thought, hey, this feels pretty good. And it did!
I made my way down the hill and into the next neighborhood. I started laughing to myself. Just a few moments before I was totally struggling, pissy and wondering how I was ever going to make it through the ride. Now I was running and feeling fabulous. My legs felt great, my feet felt light, all was well in the world.
At one point when I was running on the pathway I had a bunch of birds flying ahead of me. They'd land, then I'd catch up, and they'd fly a few more feet ahead. We repeated this process a few times. There were some big chubby robins with bright orange bellies, tiny sparrows, and another bird that I'm not sure of it's name, but it was gorgeous. I felt like Snow Friggin White, with all these birds twittering around. It was hilarious.
I ran up the last hill and was home at last. What a workout! It was a mental and physical struggle, to say the least, and I was rewarded with an awesome run. THIS is why I love being a triathlete! The absolute thrill that you feel when you've worked your arse off, faced and then defeated those challenges. I think this one deserves a big ass HOOYAAAAAH!
Peace out my friends.
I assume the IronGods heard me, so they decided to spice things up a bit.
Today's ride was going to be about 4 hours long so I wanted to be on my Cervelo, rather than the Cannondale. It's about time I got used to being in the aeros for long periods. First off I had to change the back tire to an old trainer tire. I'm pretty quick at changing tires, so this was no biggie. I got all my nutrition ready and headed for the dungeon, I mean basement.
Next off I had to add the 'lift' to my trainer so it would accommodate the Cervelo tire, which are wee 650 tires. Again, no biggie, with the help of my handy dandy ratchet and allan keys. Finally, everything was all set up and I was good to go. I hopped on the bike and started warming up when I noticed that I wasn't getting any readings on my computer. What the....?
Dammit, the speed monitor is on my front spoke! Mumble, mumble, mumble. As IG's program was about speed today, I needed to have readings. Fine, I'll just unwrap it from the brake cable, unsnap the one clip from the spoke, and move the monitor to the back. Easier said then done of course.
Dale set up my computer, so needless to say it was hooked up in a way to never, ever, ever moved or be removed. Finally I got it all undone and attached to the back fork. The clip that goes on the spoke was another issue. It didn't want to clip back on. I will spare you with all the gory details or how long it took me, suffice it to say with the help of some needle nose pliers I was able to partially squish it together. I used a bit of scotch tape just to make sure it wouldn't slide down the spoke too.
Okay, with that done, all should be fine, right? Wrong. I got back on the bike started pedaling and realized the back tire was slipping. For the love of....what now?! I checked my back tire and felt it was slipping on the trainer. Adjusted the the tension and tried it again. That's when I realized the damn tire was FLAT! My heart rate monitor was showing a slightly elevated heart rate at this point. I was doing fairly well staying calm though - I figured this is just one of those things and as long as I stay relaxed, it will get fixed and I can start my workout.
Thankfully I remembered to take all my nutrition off my bike and removed my profile bottle BEFORE flipping my bike over to change the tube. Once again I practiced my tube changing skills. I saw that in the process of inflating the tube when I changed the tire I had ripped the valve stem. I've done this sooo many times before using the pump I have that it's rather annoying. Finally, it was all done, bike was righted, nutrition put back on, computer was working, tire was inflated, tension was adjusted and heart rate was fairly reasonable.
So I started pedaling....
Okay, this was good. Everything was working. Nice. Hope the IronGods got a good chuckle out of all that excitement! Time to focus and ride.
I kept the T.V. off and had no music on. I wanted to try and focus on what was going on with my body and my mind. For the first 1.5 hours all was well. I was following the program - I did a 30 minute warm up, then did four 10/5 sets. For the 10 minute segments I was to pedal at 27 km/h and then go down to 25 km/h for the 5 minute segments. And so I did.
The next hour I was to do the same thing, but pedal between 27-28 km/h. I managed to pedal between 27.5 and 28.5 km/h. I was really struggling with my focus though. External problems that started in the first hour were now starting to grate me. The nerve in my shoulder was zinging big time when I was in the aero's. I kept sliding on my saddle so that my seat bones weren't positioned where they should be. This meant I had to keep sliding back every few minutes. Rather annoying when you are trying to keep a steady pace.
With all this sliding I wasn't able to keep my shoulder blades down, which is what I had to do to get my shoulder to stop hurting. Seriously, I wanted to scream. Instead, I kept telling myself to focus on my breath. To keep going.
My mind would then slip to the position of my saddle and how I could change it. I must be on a down angle or something. Nuts! Then I thought of the height of my aerobars, maybe I need to raise them. Then I'd realize I wasn't focussing and would get all pissed. At about 2:10 hours into my ride I realized I needed to call someone...so I did.
I, of course, called Gregory as I felt he was partially responsible for the situation. There was no answer, so I left a message that went something like this...
"I really needed to complain to someone, so I choose you. I F***ING HATE THIS! My legs hurt, my shoulder is killing me, I keep sliding on my seat, we need to raise the aerobars, I can't focus, I can't stay in the aero's, I don't have the tv on or radio and I'm going to try and do that as long as possible. Oh, the one good thing is I'm achieving the speeds you want me to. Bye.". (I learned after my workout IG got a great laugh out of this message - at least someone was laughing! I wasn't at the time, but certainly can now).
The remaining ride I did my best to stay focussed. I'm proud to report that I was able to for the most part. I wasn't the happiest triathlete though. If you think Lisa Bentley's grimace is scary, you should have seen mine. It would have given an indication what was going on in my brain. As I went up in speed (I had worked up to 29.5 km/h for the sets) my grimace got more severe. Until I realized this was taking up way too much energy, then I stopped and made my face neutral. My legs were burning towards the end. Finally, I finished the last set. I just had to do a 1/2 hour cool down at 25 km/h.
Bang! I was at 4 hours. YES! It was then I allowed myself to see how far I'd ridden. (I was hoping to be at 100 km. I flipped through my computer screens...94 something km. NUTS!!!! The next screen indicated I'd only ridden for 3:51 hours.
You see, I'd taken a couple of bathroom breaks and just before my phone call to Gregory I had to take a mental break. I stopped pedaling and had a little talk with myself about focussing on the present and not thinking about my shoulder, the race, etc etc. Apparantly this took longer than I thought.
I couldn't leave the situation as is. So I started pedalling - fast. I pedalled around 30 km/h. I have no idea how I found the strength in my legs! I watched every second that ticked down until it said 4:00 hours. Sweet! I flicked the screen over and saw that I had ridden..... 98.7 km!
I will refrain from writing out the obscenities that then spewed from my mouth. They aren't for the faint of heart...
Once again I pedalled my heart out until the monitor read 100km. At last! The time was 4:03 hours. DONE, DONE, DONE!
Oh how I wanted to just sit on the ground and stretch. Things hurt. Lots of things. Unfortunately, I had a 1/2 hour run to do. I seriously wasn't sure how the hell I was going to pull this off. My quads were screaming.
I switched clothes (as mine were saturated), bundled up for the cold and off I went. I was hoping my braids wouldn't freeze and break off. Yes, it was that cold. As I started running I thought, hey, this feels pretty good. And it did!
I made my way down the hill and into the next neighborhood. I started laughing to myself. Just a few moments before I was totally struggling, pissy and wondering how I was ever going to make it through the ride. Now I was running and feeling fabulous. My legs felt great, my feet felt light, all was well in the world.
At one point when I was running on the pathway I had a bunch of birds flying ahead of me. They'd land, then I'd catch up, and they'd fly a few more feet ahead. We repeated this process a few times. There were some big chubby robins with bright orange bellies, tiny sparrows, and another bird that I'm not sure of it's name, but it was gorgeous. I felt like Snow Friggin White, with all these birds twittering around. It was hilarious.
I ran up the last hill and was home at last. What a workout! It was a mental and physical struggle, to say the least, and I was rewarded with an awesome run. THIS is why I love being a triathlete! The absolute thrill that you feel when you've worked your arse off, faced and then defeated those challenges. I think this one deserves a big ass HOOYAAAAAH!
Peace out my friends.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Running...Au Natural???
Well now, our friend Keith may be onto something with all his talk on running nekid...
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/Running+Free/SpecialFeatures/SpringTraining/ContentPosting_RW.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=145770&feedname=RODALE-RUNNERWORLD&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/Running+Free/SpecialFeatures/SpringTraining/ContentPosting_RW.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=145770&feedname=RODALE-RUNNERWORLD&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False
Monday, 14 April 2008
The Solo Triathlete...
So a theme has cropped up this week - training solo. A couple of people have brought it up to me, and so, of course, that got the wee gerbil a spinnin' on his wheel.
I spend a great deal of my time training solo. I've found there can be positives and negatives to training alone. First though, I feel I should give a little background about me so you can put my thoughts in context...
I'm an only child. I failed sharing in kindergarten. I've learned to share since then, well, to a certain extent.
I will not share my Bridge Mixture. If you want some, get your own bag. Don't worry if you can't eat a whole bag, I'll finish off mine and gladly eat yours too.
I will not share my sushi; however, if you have something I want to try, I'd be happy to swap comparable pieces. No, I won't swap a spicy tuna cone for a tiny ass piece of california roll. Comparable is the key word here.
I will always share my Jack Daniels with you. Just bring a tumbler and some ice and I'll pour ya some sweet nectar of the Gods. We can then sit and talk about music, triathlon, movies or whatever.
Now this wee bit of background may lead you to believe I don't play well with others, hence I like to train alone. However, this would be a falsehood. I love swimming with the gang on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Having them there pushes me on days when I'm tired and have troubles finding the strength within to go harder. I loved riding with Richelle on the weekend; she brought my biking up a notch and I look forward to future Sunday rides for that reason. There is comaraderie to training with others that I enjoy.
So when is it good to train solo, and when is it good to train with a group?
I can only speak for myself, of course, but sometimes I find training with a group can lead to some negativity. Not on part of the others, but on my part. I loathe to admit this, but I have been known to fall in the trap of comparing myself to others. GASP! I know, it's hard to believe, yet it is true.
It matters not that I have only been doing this sport for two seasons. Nor does it matter that I started at a later age, I have weight lifting background rather than a running/biking/swimming background and I have completely different DNA from anyone else. For some reason, I feel I should have miraculously become the fastest, strongest triathlete ever within the past two years. I actually compare times, speeds, race results and wonder, how come I'm not like them?! The practice of comparison is silly of course. We all do it though.
Realistically, unless we are being paid to do this sport I think we should worry less about what others are doing and concentrate on all the little achievements we make.
Training on your own can have its advantages too. You won't be as tempted to compare yourself to anyone...because there is no one there! (You'll still do it after races though!)
The biggest gift I get from training alone is building up my mental strength. It is a well known fact that endurance races are 80% mental. So why not spend 80% of your time training alone and working on your mental game? Afterall, on race day, even with your family and friends cheering you on, it is just the totality of your mind and body that will get you through the day.
One of the bigger mental challenges I face is staying in the moment; staying focussed. I believe this is a necessity, not just in training and racing, but in life. It takes practice to stay calm and focussed. So practice I do. I sit on my trainer in the basement with no television, no radio, no distractions. I go out for a run without the MP3 player.
The majority of time I train alone my mind is busy with thoughts of the day, thoughts of what I want to write. Just thoughts. Zipping here and there - zing, zing, zing! Then I start to focus on my breathing. I focus on all my muscles working. If I'm lucky, a sense of calm washes over me. This is the zone. This is Nirvana. This is peace. I love being in this place, and I know I wouldn't get there if I weren't training alone.
The negative aspect of training alone is, of course, not having someone there to keep you going or to push you when you are struggling. One can only hope this doesn't happen to often.
So, what would you rather do - train solo or train with a group?
Peace out my friends.
I spend a great deal of my time training solo. I've found there can be positives and negatives to training alone. First though, I feel I should give a little background about me so you can put my thoughts in context...
I'm an only child. I failed sharing in kindergarten. I've learned to share since then, well, to a certain extent.
I will not share my Bridge Mixture. If you want some, get your own bag. Don't worry if you can't eat a whole bag, I'll finish off mine and gladly eat yours too.
I will not share my sushi; however, if you have something I want to try, I'd be happy to swap comparable pieces. No, I won't swap a spicy tuna cone for a tiny ass piece of california roll. Comparable is the key word here.
I will always share my Jack Daniels with you. Just bring a tumbler and some ice and I'll pour ya some sweet nectar of the Gods. We can then sit and talk about music, triathlon, movies or whatever.
Now this wee bit of background may lead you to believe I don't play well with others, hence I like to train alone. However, this would be a falsehood. I love swimming with the gang on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Having them there pushes me on days when I'm tired and have troubles finding the strength within to go harder. I loved riding with Richelle on the weekend; she brought my biking up a notch and I look forward to future Sunday rides for that reason. There is comaraderie to training with others that I enjoy.
So when is it good to train solo, and when is it good to train with a group?
I can only speak for myself, of course, but sometimes I find training with a group can lead to some negativity. Not on part of the others, but on my part. I loathe to admit this, but I have been known to fall in the trap of comparing myself to others. GASP! I know, it's hard to believe, yet it is true.
It matters not that I have only been doing this sport for two seasons. Nor does it matter that I started at a later age, I have weight lifting background rather than a running/biking/swimming background and I have completely different DNA from anyone else. For some reason, I feel I should have miraculously become the fastest, strongest triathlete ever within the past two years. I actually compare times, speeds, race results and wonder, how come I'm not like them?! The practice of comparison is silly of course. We all do it though.
Realistically, unless we are being paid to do this sport I think we should worry less about what others are doing and concentrate on all the little achievements we make.
Training on your own can have its advantages too. You won't be as tempted to compare yourself to anyone...because there is no one there! (You'll still do it after races though!)
The biggest gift I get from training alone is building up my mental strength. It is a well known fact that endurance races are 80% mental. So why not spend 80% of your time training alone and working on your mental game? Afterall, on race day, even with your family and friends cheering you on, it is just the totality of your mind and body that will get you through the day.
One of the bigger mental challenges I face is staying in the moment; staying focussed. I believe this is a necessity, not just in training and racing, but in life. It takes practice to stay calm and focussed. So practice I do. I sit on my trainer in the basement with no television, no radio, no distractions. I go out for a run without the MP3 player.
The majority of time I train alone my mind is busy with thoughts of the day, thoughts of what I want to write. Just thoughts. Zipping here and there - zing, zing, zing! Then I start to focus on my breathing. I focus on all my muscles working. If I'm lucky, a sense of calm washes over me. This is the zone. This is Nirvana. This is peace. I love being in this place, and I know I wouldn't get there if I weren't training alone.
The negative aspect of training alone is, of course, not having someone there to keep you going or to push you when you are struggling. One can only hope this doesn't happen to often.
So, what would you rather do - train solo or train with a group?
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Bugs In My Teeth...
FINALLY! We have sunshine!! It's supposed to be short lived, but hey, I'll take it! At least it was on the weekend rather than when I'm chained to my desk.
I went out for a ride yesterday AND today and it was absolutely brilliant. I'm still giddy.
Yesterday I went on my own and was smiling so much I got bugs in my teeth. I am not complaining though because a) it was warm out enough for bugs and 2) I was OUTSIDE riding! Oh joy, oh rapture, unforseen!
I went riding north of town and saw a fair amount of cyclists. Always a good thing when you are on a solo ride. At least you know there are a ton of people about, just in case.
I saw my first prairie dog of the season, he was kind enough not to run so close in front of me that I'd have to hit the brakes or bail. Phew. You see, me and the prairie dogs in this area have an understanding. I will not run them over and they will only run out in front of me if there is enough space. It seems to work. Not that I would ever run over anything - I'm pretty sure I'd bail first. This troubles the parental unit. :)
I also saw a herd of mule deer. I'm not exaggerating about the herd part - there had to be at least 50 of them. It was an amazing site to see them run in unison through the farm field. Ahhhh, nothing better than being outside!
Today I did a similar route as yesterday, but rather than being solo I was with my buddy Richelle. I was stoked about riding with her as she is a very talented triathlete/runner. I wasn't sure if I could keep up, but thought she would be a great inspiration to take my biking up a notch.
I was able to keep up till we got to the first hill. Then I started losing her, but she was still visible so I wasn't too worried. On the flats I was able to chase a bit.
The whole time riding with her I could feel I was riding at another level. My legs felt strong, which is not bad considering I rode yesterday as well and wasn't slacking then. At about the halfway point I was starting to be able to keep up with her. I don't think I've ever ridden with so much power for an entire ride. It was like I needed an hour warmup or something, haha. Oh, I should likely add my average heartrate was about 10 bpm higher today than yesterday.
We hit some good headwind as we headed west, then it changed and we got it from the south. So basically the entire last half of the bike was battling headwind. At one point we were both riding on ~95 degree angles because the crosswind was so strong. It was insane! I will still say it's just Mother Nature helping me to be tougher on the bike!
It was a truly brilliant ride! It's rather indescribable how I felt today. Let's just say I think I'm making some progress on my biking. Not a huge step - I'm not going to be finishing the IM portion of the bike in IGs time or anything. I'm more hopeful though, unforseeable circumstances notwithstanding, that I won't be on the bike course as long as I was last year. Oh how I beg of the cycling Gods to make this so!
I must say, I was totally flattered when Richelle said she'd like to ride with me this season. I think it will be a great experience for me. I hope, too, that I will be able to help her with her season as well, in whatever way I can! What an awesome two days!!!!
Two days of riding, 5.5 hours in total, 146 km distance. Cool.
Peace out my friends.
I went out for a ride yesterday AND today and it was absolutely brilliant. I'm still giddy.
Yesterday I went on my own and was smiling so much I got bugs in my teeth. I am not complaining though because a) it was warm out enough for bugs and 2) I was OUTSIDE riding! Oh joy, oh rapture, unforseen!
I went riding north of town and saw a fair amount of cyclists. Always a good thing when you are on a solo ride. At least you know there are a ton of people about, just in case.
I saw my first prairie dog of the season, he was kind enough not to run so close in front of me that I'd have to hit the brakes or bail. Phew. You see, me and the prairie dogs in this area have an understanding. I will not run them over and they will only run out in front of me if there is enough space. It seems to work. Not that I would ever run over anything - I'm pretty sure I'd bail first. This troubles the parental unit. :)
I also saw a herd of mule deer. I'm not exaggerating about the herd part - there had to be at least 50 of them. It was an amazing site to see them run in unison through the farm field. Ahhhh, nothing better than being outside!
Today I did a similar route as yesterday, but rather than being solo I was with my buddy Richelle. I was stoked about riding with her as she is a very talented triathlete/runner. I wasn't sure if I could keep up, but thought she would be a great inspiration to take my biking up a notch.
I was able to keep up till we got to the first hill. Then I started losing her, but she was still visible so I wasn't too worried. On the flats I was able to chase a bit.
The whole time riding with her I could feel I was riding at another level. My legs felt strong, which is not bad considering I rode yesterday as well and wasn't slacking then. At about the halfway point I was starting to be able to keep up with her. I don't think I've ever ridden with so much power for an entire ride. It was like I needed an hour warmup or something, haha. Oh, I should likely add my average heartrate was about 10 bpm higher today than yesterday.
We hit some good headwind as we headed west, then it changed and we got it from the south. So basically the entire last half of the bike was battling headwind. At one point we were both riding on ~95 degree angles because the crosswind was so strong. It was insane! I will still say it's just Mother Nature helping me to be tougher on the bike!
It was a truly brilliant ride! It's rather indescribable how I felt today. Let's just say I think I'm making some progress on my biking. Not a huge step - I'm not going to be finishing the IM portion of the bike in IGs time or anything. I'm more hopeful though, unforseeable circumstances notwithstanding, that I won't be on the bike course as long as I was last year. Oh how I beg of the cycling Gods to make this so!
I must say, I was totally flattered when Richelle said she'd like to ride with me this season. I think it will be a great experience for me. I hope, too, that I will be able to help her with her season as well, in whatever way I can! What an awesome two days!!!!
Two days of riding, 5.5 hours in total, 146 km distance. Cool.
Peace out my friends.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Why Do You Do It???
This week I was asked the following questions: What are you running from? What are you running to? Why do you do triathlon?
Befitting the questions, I started to ponder them on my run tonight. Am I running from something? If I asked myself that question three years ago, the answer would have been yes.
I was running to escape the hurt and anger of a betrayal. Had I not run I am sure my head and heart would have exploded trying to deal with all the emotion. Running helped me survive. I would run so hard that all I could think about was the burning in my lungs and my legs. There was no room for other thought. For many months it was the only activity that allowed my brain to focus on something other than the never answered question 'why?'. Thankfully, I no longer run from anything.
Nowadays I not only run, but I swim and bike. So what am I swimming, biking and running towards? That's easy - I move towards challenge.
Many moons ago I struggled with self esteem and confidence. People who know me now have a hard time believing that, but it's true. It was taking on challenges, big and small, that lead to gaining self esteem and confidence. Rather than cower from a challenge, I become like a rabid, frothing linebacker going in for the quarterback sack. Of course, the biggest mental and physical challenge was Ironman. Not just the race itself, but every day of training leading up to that momentos day.
So I was also asked why do you do it? Well now, that's easy. I do it because I am rewarded by attaining the goals I set out for myself. The question was then asked, do you do it for approval?
At first I scoffed at that, what a silly question. No way! Of course, that's when the wee gerbil in my brain started spinning. Huh. Do I do this for approval? This was a very hard question to ask myself. I don't want to do this for anyone. I want to do this for me. If I need to seek approval, isn't that the wrong reason to be in this sport?
It seems a can of worms was opened with that one simple initial question.
I like to be honest with myself, so after much thought I finally had to admit that there was a part of me that did this for approval. Look world! Look at what I did! Remember that little girl who would rather quit than fail at a task?? Well look at her now! I can do anything I set my mind to! I'm a frigging Ironman for crying out loud!
The good thing about being honest with yourself is that if you don't like the answer to the question - you have the power to change it. I would prefer to do things for myself. So maybe the whole triathlon/Ironman thing started out so I could prove something to the world, but it's not the reason I continue on.
Seriously, if I was competing in triathlon JUST for the approval of others, I wouldn't continue to do it. It's really hard work!! Not to mention it takes up a lot of time, and it can hurt. LOL.
So the other answers to the question 'why do you do it' would be as follows.
Befitting the questions, I started to ponder them on my run tonight. Am I running from something? If I asked myself that question three years ago, the answer would have been yes.
I was running to escape the hurt and anger of a betrayal. Had I not run I am sure my head and heart would have exploded trying to deal with all the emotion. Running helped me survive. I would run so hard that all I could think about was the burning in my lungs and my legs. There was no room for other thought. For many months it was the only activity that allowed my brain to focus on something other than the never answered question 'why?'. Thankfully, I no longer run from anything.
Nowadays I not only run, but I swim and bike. So what am I swimming, biking and running towards? That's easy - I move towards challenge.
Many moons ago I struggled with self esteem and confidence. People who know me now have a hard time believing that, but it's true. It was taking on challenges, big and small, that lead to gaining self esteem and confidence. Rather than cower from a challenge, I become like a rabid, frothing linebacker going in for the quarterback sack. Of course, the biggest mental and physical challenge was Ironman. Not just the race itself, but every day of training leading up to that momentos day.
So I was also asked why do you do it? Well now, that's easy. I do it because I am rewarded by attaining the goals I set out for myself. The question was then asked, do you do it for approval?
At first I scoffed at that, what a silly question. No way! Of course, that's when the wee gerbil in my brain started spinning. Huh. Do I do this for approval? This was a very hard question to ask myself. I don't want to do this for anyone. I want to do this for me. If I need to seek approval, isn't that the wrong reason to be in this sport?
It seems a can of worms was opened with that one simple initial question.
I like to be honest with myself, so after much thought I finally had to admit that there was a part of me that did this for approval. Look world! Look at what I did! Remember that little girl who would rather quit than fail at a task?? Well look at her now! I can do anything I set my mind to! I'm a frigging Ironman for crying out loud!
The good thing about being honest with yourself is that if you don't like the answer to the question - you have the power to change it. I would prefer to do things for myself. So maybe the whole triathlon/Ironman thing started out so I could prove something to the world, but it's not the reason I continue on.
Seriously, if I was competing in triathlon JUST for the approval of others, I wouldn't continue to do it. It's really hard work!! Not to mention it takes up a lot of time, and it can hurt. LOL.
So the other answers to the question 'why do you do it' would be as follows.
- The constant challenge of the sport - even the pros haven't mastered it. Once you finally figure something out, like your swim technique, then you get to figure out how to go farther, faster. I love that.
- The people invovled in the sport are truly like family. They encourage you, challenge you, share your laughter, your accomplishments, your tears and your fears. They are there with you every lap, pedal stroke and step.
- The zen moments, where you think you've found Nirvana, are addicting. Once you've experienced it you want more. Droool.
- The big accomplishments, like finishing your first triathlon, as well as all the wee ones make it so much fun. Swimming 1000 m under 20 minutes. Riding 60 km, 90 km, 210 km for the first time! Seeing your running pace get faster and faster.
- The funny moments. Let's not forget those! Having a Nuun volcano in your car. Swimming into a bright blue paddle boat - that's docked! Dodging prairie dogs on your bike. Having your friend do a farmer blow on her bike in front of you, and feeling the spray. Getting caught on video shaking your booty to 'Baby Got Back' at the start of your very first Ironman run.
I think those are some pretty damn good answers. So now it's your turn to answer, 'Why Do You Do It?!'
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
The Glencoe Icebreaker 10 km...
What a gorgeous morning for a run! Okay, yes, I'd prefer if it was warmer, but hey, one mustn't complain about low plus temperatures and blue sky. I didn't even have to wear my mittens!
I had a good 20 minute warmup before the run. My heartrate seemed a smidge high, but I had just taken a couple of 'hits' off my inhaler so that likely drove it up a bit. I met up with some of the gang and then it was time to line up.
Finally, people up ahead started running - time to go. I'm not good at seeding myself so I was a bit back and had to wind my way up to where people were running my pace. That sounds funny. 'My pace.' I mean, seriously, what the hell is my pace?! I just run by feel. If my legs can, I get them to take wee steps very quickly. If they can't, I just beg them to take wee steps as fast as they can go. LOL.
I didn't train for this race, in the sense that I have done no speed work to date. My focus is on IMCDA and building an aerobic endurance base. I was pretty curious how this would play out today. Also, I was on the bike for 2.5 hours yesterday so I wasn't sure if my legs would be feeling that or not.
Everything felt pretty good for the first part of the run. At about the 2.5 km mark you start to ascend a long hill. My thoughts were to keep my step light and keep my pace going, and that's what I did. After the long hill there is about a 100 m recovery and then a short, yet steep climb. I was feeling great through all of this.
As I descended down towards Stanley Park a gal said 'doing great, almost at the halfway mark!'. Huh, so far so good. I had hoped to pick up my pace a bit at the halfway mark. At least that was my unplanned plan. There was an elderly woman in front of me as we ran past Stanley Park. I giggled to myself cause I thought a) I want to be like that when I'm a 'wrinkly' and b) I really have to get ahead of her. LOL. It's not fair!!! I'm younger I should be able to run faster. YA RIGHT!
When I ran past the 5 km marker the volunteer called out 27:30-something. Okay, I am on track to be somewhere around last years time. Also, I passed the grey hair in front of me. Cool. Then the stitch hit me. NUTS! It was in my ribs on my right side. Well this sucked. Nothing you can do about that but run it out, or stop. There was so no way I was stopping. Instead, I slowed my pace slightly, but kept pushing on. I find that if I focus on my breathing sometimes it will go away. It was then that the grey hair passed me. Son of a...
I saw a few of the speedy Cochranites heading back as I made my way to the turnaround. This is the one spot where you can get a water. I wouldn't even think of it because at the pace I was running I would hurl it up for sure. The grey hair in front of me did stop; however, so I took full advantage of this to advance myself past her!!! LOL.
The stitch had faded a fair bit so it was time to pick up the pace again. At this point I was wheezing quite a bit and starting to feel some fatigue. Nothing horrible though. There was a guy running in front of me and I thought I just want to keep pace with him. If I can do that I think I'll be ok.
Near the 7km mark is when you hit some rollers. This is why I love this course, because it isn't flat. You have two good hills at the start and when the fatigue kicks in and you are sooo close to the finish you have to deal with a couple rollers. Very sweet.
I kept saying my 'fast' mantra 'Jack be nimble, Jack be quick'. This never fails to keep me going. At the '1 mile to go' marker they called out 46 minutes. I tried to do some math in my head - I secretly wanted to get in at 52 minutes. I realized pretty quickly I couldn't pick up my pace enough to do that....I wasn't actually sure what time I would make it in. I was starting to wheeze more and the stitch was back and making its way up into my shoulder/neck area.
Finally I was back on Elbow Drive and headed to the finish. I had this rhythmic breathing/wheezing thing going that must be driving the few around me nuts. I tried hard to pick up my pace for the last bit, but couldn't.
Clock time: 54:41 minutes. Susi's Suunto time: 54:22 minutes. Both times are a personal best. Okay, only by 17 seconds (clock time), but dammit, I'm going to take it!! LOL.
I realized some valuable stuff today. First, I can get a PB on legs that did a 2.5 hour bike the day before. Nice. Second, I can get a PB after doing no speed work yet this season - I'm getting stronger! Suhweet. Third, my average heart rate during the race was 166 bpm - this is approximately 10 bpm slower than what I normally run a 10 km race at. I told IG all this after the race and said 'I think that's a good sign, right??' Apparantly it IS a good sign. It means all that running at a low heart rate is paying off and I'm making some gains on my aerobic endurance. This is VERY VERY cool.
Gotta love it when you start to see your training pay off....let's hope I keep improving and all comes together on June 22....
Peace out my friends.
I had a good 20 minute warmup before the run. My heartrate seemed a smidge high, but I had just taken a couple of 'hits' off my inhaler so that likely drove it up a bit. I met up with some of the gang and then it was time to line up.
Finally, people up ahead started running - time to go. I'm not good at seeding myself so I was a bit back and had to wind my way up to where people were running my pace. That sounds funny. 'My pace.' I mean, seriously, what the hell is my pace?! I just run by feel. If my legs can, I get them to take wee steps very quickly. If they can't, I just beg them to take wee steps as fast as they can go. LOL.
I didn't train for this race, in the sense that I have done no speed work to date. My focus is on IMCDA and building an aerobic endurance base. I was pretty curious how this would play out today. Also, I was on the bike for 2.5 hours yesterday so I wasn't sure if my legs would be feeling that or not.
Everything felt pretty good for the first part of the run. At about the 2.5 km mark you start to ascend a long hill. My thoughts were to keep my step light and keep my pace going, and that's what I did. After the long hill there is about a 100 m recovery and then a short, yet steep climb. I was feeling great through all of this.
As I descended down towards Stanley Park a gal said 'doing great, almost at the halfway mark!'. Huh, so far so good. I had hoped to pick up my pace a bit at the halfway mark. At least that was my unplanned plan. There was an elderly woman in front of me as we ran past Stanley Park. I giggled to myself cause I thought a) I want to be like that when I'm a 'wrinkly' and b) I really have to get ahead of her. LOL. It's not fair!!! I'm younger I should be able to run faster. YA RIGHT!
When I ran past the 5 km marker the volunteer called out 27:30-something. Okay, I am on track to be somewhere around last years time. Also, I passed the grey hair in front of me. Cool. Then the stitch hit me. NUTS! It was in my ribs on my right side. Well this sucked. Nothing you can do about that but run it out, or stop. There was so no way I was stopping. Instead, I slowed my pace slightly, but kept pushing on. I find that if I focus on my breathing sometimes it will go away. It was then that the grey hair passed me. Son of a...
I saw a few of the speedy Cochranites heading back as I made my way to the turnaround. This is the one spot where you can get a water. I wouldn't even think of it because at the pace I was running I would hurl it up for sure. The grey hair in front of me did stop; however, so I took full advantage of this to advance myself past her!!! LOL.
The stitch had faded a fair bit so it was time to pick up the pace again. At this point I was wheezing quite a bit and starting to feel some fatigue. Nothing horrible though. There was a guy running in front of me and I thought I just want to keep pace with him. If I can do that I think I'll be ok.
Near the 7km mark is when you hit some rollers. This is why I love this course, because it isn't flat. You have two good hills at the start and when the fatigue kicks in and you are sooo close to the finish you have to deal with a couple rollers. Very sweet.
I kept saying my 'fast' mantra 'Jack be nimble, Jack be quick'. This never fails to keep me going. At the '1 mile to go' marker they called out 46 minutes. I tried to do some math in my head - I secretly wanted to get in at 52 minutes. I realized pretty quickly I couldn't pick up my pace enough to do that....I wasn't actually sure what time I would make it in. I was starting to wheeze more and the stitch was back and making its way up into my shoulder/neck area.
Finally I was back on Elbow Drive and headed to the finish. I had this rhythmic breathing/wheezing thing going that must be driving the few around me nuts. I tried hard to pick up my pace for the last bit, but couldn't.
Clock time: 54:41 minutes. Susi's Suunto time: 54:22 minutes. Both times are a personal best. Okay, only by 17 seconds (clock time), but dammit, I'm going to take it!! LOL.
I realized some valuable stuff today. First, I can get a PB on legs that did a 2.5 hour bike the day before. Nice. Second, I can get a PB after doing no speed work yet this season - I'm getting stronger! Suhweet. Third, my average heart rate during the race was 166 bpm - this is approximately 10 bpm slower than what I normally run a 10 km race at. I told IG all this after the race and said 'I think that's a good sign, right??' Apparantly it IS a good sign. It means all that running at a low heart rate is paying off and I'm making some gains on my aerobic endurance. This is VERY VERY cool.
Gotta love it when you start to see your training pay off....let's hope I keep improving and all comes together on June 22....
Peace out my friends.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Bike Zen...
Today's bike workout was different from any other I've had. I think I hit the 'Zen' zone.
I wasn't sure how today's workout was going to go as training has been very up and down to this point. I realized recently that there has to be a mental change in how I approach my workouts, or the struggle would continue. I didn't necessarily have a plan of how I was going to change things when I got on the bike, I just had a feeling...
From the moment I started pedaling I knew something was different. Usually it takes me a while to get up to 90 rpm, even in an easy spin. Today it was like that right away. I didn't get too excited because I still had over two hours to go.
I started in on my first 10 minute set. I was doing 7/3 high/low zone 2 sets. As I got into the set I thought to myself, well now, this is a good start. My legs felt great. Relaxed and strong. The 7 minutes flew by. By the time I got to the fourth set I decided to try something with my breathing. Recently, I had started meditating somewhat. I would close my eyes and focus on my breathing while counting. Breathe in - 1; Breathe out - 1. I would do this till I got to 10, then start over.
So this is what I started doing when I was on the bike - eyes open of course. Obviously, it's not as relaxed as when I'm sitting in a pseudo lotus position on my couch, but it worked! I was able to maintain my cadence and strength, but my heart rate came down about 5 bpm. This was good as it was a little high going at the start.
The other side effect from this was that I was in a very calm, relaxed state while still pedaling strong. I was totally focused on my pedaling. I could almost picture the wee gerbil in my brain sitting off in a corner on a stack of brightly coloured pillows chillin' with a hookah pipe. LOL. I kept thinking that THIS is how I want to feel at IMCDA. Strong, consistent, powerful and yet relaxed and calm.
I wasn't sure how long this would last, but amazingly enough it did for all my sets. It was absolutely brilliant. Indescribable really! I have no idea if it was just the breathing or maybe the quinoa I decided to try for breakfast! It was truly yummy as I cooked it with diced apples, cinnamon and sunflower seeds. Then I topped it off with a little bit of agave nectar. I will have to eat this tomorrow morning and see if it helps me with my 10 km race.
Oh ya, I am in a 10 km race tomorrow! I have no idea if I will be able to actually race it as I put in a good 2.5 hours on the bike today, but we'll see how it goes. When IG asked if this race meant anything to me I indicated it didn't. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a long bike workout because IMCDA means more to me. Therefore we kept the bike in and tomorrow I will race on tired legs.
It will be interesting to see how my ego does with this. Will I take it easy, or give it all I've got? Originally I wanted to break my 54 minute personal best, but this may not be so. Ah well, they have a really great brunch after the race so it will all be worth it whatever happens!
For those that have no plans for the afternoon feel free to drop in and visit me as I volunteer at the Footstock booth from 2-4 pm in the Roundup Centre! It's all part of the Outdoor Adventure Show that is on. I hope to check out the show beforehand as well - I will be in my element surrounded by other fitness, peace, love and granola people!! YAY!
I almost forgot to add - 3:16 minute front plank today. I didn't even bother to try to attempt side planks after that! Ow, ow, ow!
Peace out my friends.
I wasn't sure how today's workout was going to go as training has been very up and down to this point. I realized recently that there has to be a mental change in how I approach my workouts, or the struggle would continue. I didn't necessarily have a plan of how I was going to change things when I got on the bike, I just had a feeling...
From the moment I started pedaling I knew something was different. Usually it takes me a while to get up to 90 rpm, even in an easy spin. Today it was like that right away. I didn't get too excited because I still had over two hours to go.
I started in on my first 10 minute set. I was doing 7/3 high/low zone 2 sets. As I got into the set I thought to myself, well now, this is a good start. My legs felt great. Relaxed and strong. The 7 minutes flew by. By the time I got to the fourth set I decided to try something with my breathing. Recently, I had started meditating somewhat. I would close my eyes and focus on my breathing while counting. Breathe in - 1; Breathe out - 1. I would do this till I got to 10, then start over.
So this is what I started doing when I was on the bike - eyes open of course. Obviously, it's not as relaxed as when I'm sitting in a pseudo lotus position on my couch, but it worked! I was able to maintain my cadence and strength, but my heart rate came down about 5 bpm. This was good as it was a little high going at the start.
The other side effect from this was that I was in a very calm, relaxed state while still pedaling strong. I was totally focused on my pedaling. I could almost picture the wee gerbil in my brain sitting off in a corner on a stack of brightly coloured pillows chillin' with a hookah pipe. LOL. I kept thinking that THIS is how I want to feel at IMCDA. Strong, consistent, powerful and yet relaxed and calm.
I wasn't sure how long this would last, but amazingly enough it did for all my sets. It was absolutely brilliant. Indescribable really! I have no idea if it was just the breathing or maybe the quinoa I decided to try for breakfast! It was truly yummy as I cooked it with diced apples, cinnamon and sunflower seeds. Then I topped it off with a little bit of agave nectar. I will have to eat this tomorrow morning and see if it helps me with my 10 km race.
Oh ya, I am in a 10 km race tomorrow! I have no idea if I will be able to actually race it as I put in a good 2.5 hours on the bike today, but we'll see how it goes. When IG asked if this race meant anything to me I indicated it didn't. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a long bike workout because IMCDA means more to me. Therefore we kept the bike in and tomorrow I will race on tired legs.
It will be interesting to see how my ego does with this. Will I take it easy, or give it all I've got? Originally I wanted to break my 54 minute personal best, but this may not be so. Ah well, they have a really great brunch after the race so it will all be worth it whatever happens!
For those that have no plans for the afternoon feel free to drop in and visit me as I volunteer at the Footstock booth from 2-4 pm in the Roundup Centre! It's all part of the Outdoor Adventure Show that is on. I hope to check out the show beforehand as well - I will be in my element surrounded by other fitness, peace, love and granola people!! YAY!
I almost forgot to add - 3:16 minute front plank today. I didn't even bother to try to attempt side planks after that! Ow, ow, ow!
Peace out my friends.
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
The Grocery List...
I went to see Kevin, my chiropractor/ART dude, today with what I like to call, a grocery list. The list went like this - I have a lump in my left calve and I think I've worked most of it out, but it needs more squishing; there is a knot in behind my left shoulder blade that is making it somewhat difficult for me to turn my head; I really, really need my spine crunched right between the shoulder blades; and last, but not least, there is something wrong with my elbow - I know not what.
Ah yes, the elbow. I can swim no problem. Phew. So what's the issue? Well, I was having troubles opening doors, lifting a glass, or rather, trying to grab hold of something then bend my arm without feeling a shooting pain go through my elbow. I remember it tweeking in Malaysia. I was lifting weights and the 20 lb dumbell was gone, so I used the 25 lb one. I was doing my second set of a one arm bench press when I felt something go. Huh. Well, as I often do, I ignored it till I could ignore it no longer. Turns out I pinched a nerve. Ow.
As most of my visits go with Kevin, I give him my list then let him get at it. Pretty much the only thing you hear out of me as he gets in there and says 'Aah, yes, I can feel that' is 'Mfffhhrugh, uurghheff, fbombagggh, ow!' Really, he should hand out leather straps to bite down on as he works out those knots and nerve pinches!! The good news is the pain paid off and things are feeling a bit more loose. Suhweet.
My run tonight started off pretty well. IT WAS SUNNY!! For some reason I thought this meant I could dress like it was actually spring. Riiiiight. All was well as I headed east, but once I turned around it was "holy hannah that's a friggin cold headwind!!".
I was getting a little bummed about my run on the way back as I was feeling somewhat sluggish. Considering I just came off a rest week, I didn't think I should feel this way. In fact, all my training, with the exception of my swimming, has been feeling this way lately. There are few reasons for this and I have to work through them. It can happen during IM training, that much I know. Hopefully things will feel better as I get closer to the race. I least I pray it does! In the meantime I shall muddle through.
I should mention something interesting...this was the first time since last October I wore my Garmin. I tend not to wear a lot of electronics as I prefer 'natural' running. I don't know why I chose to wear it today, I just did. As I reset it I noticed the time and distance of the last run I did.
I fully planned on running the full time, but as I was running up the hill to home I started losing feeling in most parts of my bod. The wind was freezing and killer! For some reason I could feel the liquid boogers streaming down my face though. Nice! I started to worry I was going to become some cryogenic mishap broken into a million pieces on the road, so rather than running around the neighborhood, I kept going up, up, and up the hill. The total time of the run was 1:24 hours.
When I got home, and after I thawed out, I started flipping through my Garmin looking at the times and average pace. Remember how I said I felt sluggish? Well my average pace tonight was 6:43 min/km. This is about a minute faster than almost all of my average paces last year. Another interesting point, last year I ran at a much higher heart rate than I have been since being under IronGreg's tutaledge.
Okay, so I'm still not super fast, and maybe I'll never be, but this was a training boost I needed. And yes Gregory, I belieeeeeeve! :)
As a side note, I want to congratulate my friend, Maureen, on her son Callum's performance at the Olympic swim trials today. Although he didn't make the team for the 100 m backstroke, he did absolutley amazing. Just the fact that he was there show's what an incredible athlete he is! Great job Callum!! A great big HOOYAH shout out to you.
Peace out my friends.
Ah yes, the elbow. I can swim no problem. Phew. So what's the issue? Well, I was having troubles opening doors, lifting a glass, or rather, trying to grab hold of something then bend my arm without feeling a shooting pain go through my elbow. I remember it tweeking in Malaysia. I was lifting weights and the 20 lb dumbell was gone, so I used the 25 lb one. I was doing my second set of a one arm bench press when I felt something go. Huh. Well, as I often do, I ignored it till I could ignore it no longer. Turns out I pinched a nerve. Ow.
As most of my visits go with Kevin, I give him my list then let him get at it. Pretty much the only thing you hear out of me as he gets in there and says 'Aah, yes, I can feel that' is 'Mfffhhrugh, uurghheff, fbombagggh, ow!' Really, he should hand out leather straps to bite down on as he works out those knots and nerve pinches!! The good news is the pain paid off and things are feeling a bit more loose. Suhweet.
My run tonight started off pretty well. IT WAS SUNNY!! For some reason I thought this meant I could dress like it was actually spring. Riiiiight. All was well as I headed east, but once I turned around it was "holy hannah that's a friggin cold headwind!!".
I was getting a little bummed about my run on the way back as I was feeling somewhat sluggish. Considering I just came off a rest week, I didn't think I should feel this way. In fact, all my training, with the exception of my swimming, has been feeling this way lately. There are few reasons for this and I have to work through them. It can happen during IM training, that much I know. Hopefully things will feel better as I get closer to the race. I least I pray it does! In the meantime I shall muddle through.
I should mention something interesting...this was the first time since last October I wore my Garmin. I tend not to wear a lot of electronics as I prefer 'natural' running. I don't know why I chose to wear it today, I just did. As I reset it I noticed the time and distance of the last run I did.
I fully planned on running the full time, but as I was running up the hill to home I started losing feeling in most parts of my bod. The wind was freezing and killer! For some reason I could feel the liquid boogers streaming down my face though. Nice! I started to worry I was going to become some cryogenic mishap broken into a million pieces on the road, so rather than running around the neighborhood, I kept going up, up, and up the hill. The total time of the run was 1:24 hours.
When I got home, and after I thawed out, I started flipping through my Garmin looking at the times and average pace. Remember how I said I felt sluggish? Well my average pace tonight was 6:43 min/km. This is about a minute faster than almost all of my average paces last year. Another interesting point, last year I ran at a much higher heart rate than I have been since being under IronGreg's tutaledge.
Okay, so I'm still not super fast, and maybe I'll never be, but this was a training boost I needed. And yes Gregory, I belieeeeeeve! :)
As a side note, I want to congratulate my friend, Maureen, on her son Callum's performance at the Olympic swim trials today. Although he didn't make the team for the 100 m backstroke, he did absolutley amazing. Just the fact that he was there show's what an incredible athlete he is! Great job Callum!! A great big HOOYAH shout out to you.
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 30 March 2008
The Art Of Focussing...
Ah yes, the art of focussing. Not an easy task to master for a gal such as I whose brain gerbil likes to spin at top speed on his little wheel. It's easy to tell when the little guy does get tired though...that's when I cease to be able to function and I fall to a heap in a dead sleep. LOL.
I've realized that I need to learn, and master, this art, not only in my personal life, but my professional life as well. Therefore, I've taken on the task of 'staying in the present'. How's it going you ask? Well....
I find that I have to constantly remind myself to come back to the present. Take this morning for instance. Before I could get started on this challenge called focus, I had to do my little girl spazz temper tantrum after looking out the window and seeing 2 inches of snow. @$&#!!!!! Stomp, stomp, stomp! Not that I had planned on going outside, but I had the hope that perhaps we were moving towards spring, not backwards toward winter. Eventually, I made my way to the dungeon to tackle the task of being on the bike for two and a half hours sans music, tv or any other distraction.
This is all part of the grand scheme to help me focus not only when I'm training, but also come race day.
The entire ride was pretty much a struggle to 'stay in the moment'. You'd think it would be easy to defeat a wee gerbil...but he's quite strong and very very stubborn! Hmm, remind you of anyone?! I managed to spend about 70% of my time focussed on my cadence, pedal force, and heart rate. Those times when my mind wanted to wander I would try to 'channel' someone I would love to ride like, or I would do a body check. The body checks seem to work the best as I'd notice my shoulders were creeping up towards my ears, or I'd notice something cool.... like my cadence had picked up and my legs were feeling strong even though i was at the 1.5 hour mark.
This definitely isn't something one masters in a short time; I'm sure it will take years. It isn't a choice though, it's something I will have to work on with each and every workout in order to become a better triathlete. Good thing I like a challenge and I'm stubborn enough not to quit until I master it because I have a feeling it's going to be a bit of a bumpy road. Well, at least it would be a bumpy road if the friggin snow would stop and I could get outside!!!!
So here we are, at day one of my 12 week build to IMCDA. I think today was a good start. I accomplished my daily goal and I didn't let my mind go into a spiral thinking about the race and all that I have to get done beforehand. Phew.
Onwards and upwards!
Peace out my friends.
I've realized that I need to learn, and master, this art, not only in my personal life, but my professional life as well. Therefore, I've taken on the task of 'staying in the present'. How's it going you ask? Well....
I find that I have to constantly remind myself to come back to the present. Take this morning for instance. Before I could get started on this challenge called focus, I had to do my little girl spazz temper tantrum after looking out the window and seeing 2 inches of snow. @$&#!!!!! Stomp, stomp, stomp! Not that I had planned on going outside, but I had the hope that perhaps we were moving towards spring, not backwards toward winter. Eventually, I made my way to the dungeon to tackle the task of being on the bike for two and a half hours sans music, tv or any other distraction.
This is all part of the grand scheme to help me focus not only when I'm training, but also come race day.
The entire ride was pretty much a struggle to 'stay in the moment'. You'd think it would be easy to defeat a wee gerbil...but he's quite strong and very very stubborn! Hmm, remind you of anyone?! I managed to spend about 70% of my time focussed on my cadence, pedal force, and heart rate. Those times when my mind wanted to wander I would try to 'channel' someone I would love to ride like, or I would do a body check. The body checks seem to work the best as I'd notice my shoulders were creeping up towards my ears, or I'd notice something cool.... like my cadence had picked up and my legs were feeling strong even though i was at the 1.5 hour mark.
This definitely isn't something one masters in a short time; I'm sure it will take years. It isn't a choice though, it's something I will have to work on with each and every workout in order to become a better triathlete. Good thing I like a challenge and I'm stubborn enough not to quit until I master it because I have a feeling it's going to be a bit of a bumpy road. Well, at least it would be a bumpy road if the friggin snow would stop and I could get outside!!!!
So here we are, at day one of my 12 week build to IMCDA. I think today was a good start. I accomplished my daily goal and I didn't let my mind go into a spiral thinking about the race and all that I have to get done beforehand. Phew.
Onwards and upwards!
Peace out my friends.
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Seriously...No More Snow...
I have really had it up to 'here' with snow. I know, I know....snow is not bad. I love skiing and being in the mountains when it's all snowy. When winter hits I'm always totally stoked for it. By spring though, I've had enough. I want the warmth of the sun to run in. It didn't help that I was in a wonderfully warm country not that long ago.
I woke up this morning eager for my run. When I opened the curtains and saw the snow, my heart sank a bit. Sigh. Oh well. Time to bundle up and just get out there!
As I headed out from the rec centre parking lot I could barely see. I had to keep blinking because I was being pelted with very small, hard little snowflakes. Ow! To avoid losing an eye, I pulled my toque down so low over my eyes I looked like a 'home girl'. Well, with the exception of my pigtails hanging out. Yo, yo, yo! Sup?! LOL.
As I turned onto the path I was amazed at how much ice had been pushed up onto the shore, it was nuts. At least there was a higher path I could follow until I got to the paved section. From there it was smooth sailing.
At one point I tried to count my foot strikes. I was aiming for 90 per foot in one minute. I got to about 85. I found that if I increased my cadence, my heart rate would follow. As I was supposed to hold it in zone 2 I decided just to stick with the 85.
The run was uneventful for the most part. It was still nice though. Cold, windy and winterlike, but peaceful.
When I got back to the rec centre I decided to see if the snack bar outside the hockey rink had fruit so I could have a snack before hitting the gym. Usually it's dead in there, but today as I walked in with my 'home girl' toque, my fluroescent yellow jacket and tights on there seem to be a million and one hockey parents. (They were having a fundraising auction). It seemed they were all looking at me. I was actually getting some odd looks as I walked by. Huh. Apparantly running in the snow isn't their thing?? LOL.
I haven't been in the gym in a while and I felt it. I was strong for the first few sets, but then weakened pretty soon after. Rats. It's amazing how fast you can lose it! I did manage 1.75 pull ups though! No matter how much I flung my legs in the air as though trying to find something to stand on, I could not finish it off to get a full second pull up. Drat. Gotta keep at it!
Tomorrow will be the official start to my build to IMCDA. I'm both excited and a little shocked. Shocked because it means that IMCDA is getting closer. Last year training seemed to drag on because I had till the end of August - this year it's going at light speed. I feel equally prepared and unprepared for it right now. I know that will slowly change though...
Peace out my friends.
I woke up this morning eager for my run. When I opened the curtains and saw the snow, my heart sank a bit. Sigh. Oh well. Time to bundle up and just get out there!
As I headed out from the rec centre parking lot I could barely see. I had to keep blinking because I was being pelted with very small, hard little snowflakes. Ow! To avoid losing an eye, I pulled my toque down so low over my eyes I looked like a 'home girl'. Well, with the exception of my pigtails hanging out. Yo, yo, yo! Sup?! LOL.
As I turned onto the path I was amazed at how much ice had been pushed up onto the shore, it was nuts. At least there was a higher path I could follow until I got to the paved section. From there it was smooth sailing.
At one point I tried to count my foot strikes. I was aiming for 90 per foot in one minute. I got to about 85. I found that if I increased my cadence, my heart rate would follow. As I was supposed to hold it in zone 2 I decided just to stick with the 85.
The run was uneventful for the most part. It was still nice though. Cold, windy and winterlike, but peaceful.
When I got back to the rec centre I decided to see if the snack bar outside the hockey rink had fruit so I could have a snack before hitting the gym. Usually it's dead in there, but today as I walked in with my 'home girl' toque, my fluroescent yellow jacket and tights on there seem to be a million and one hockey parents. (They were having a fundraising auction). It seemed they were all looking at me. I was actually getting some odd looks as I walked by. Huh. Apparantly running in the snow isn't their thing?? LOL.
I haven't been in the gym in a while and I felt it. I was strong for the first few sets, but then weakened pretty soon after. Rats. It's amazing how fast you can lose it! I did manage 1.75 pull ups though! No matter how much I flung my legs in the air as though trying to find something to stand on, I could not finish it off to get a full second pull up. Drat. Gotta keep at it!
Tomorrow will be the official start to my build to IMCDA. I'm both excited and a little shocked. Shocked because it means that IMCDA is getting closer. Last year training seemed to drag on because I had till the end of August - this year it's going at light speed. I feel equally prepared and unprepared for it right now. I know that will slowly change though...
Peace out my friends.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Earth Hour...
Although I would love it if Cochrane would get warmer...
Please do your part and participate in Earth Hour!
See link for details.
http://www.wwf.ca/earthhour/
Please do your part and participate in Earth Hour!
See link for details.
http://www.wwf.ca/earthhour/
Monday, 24 March 2008
A Poem...Kind Of...
I do not want snow,
No, no, no.
I want to frolick,
On my bicycle,
Outside.
I do not want snow,
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
I want to frolick,
On my bicycle,
Outside.
I do not want snow,
No, no, no.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
The Time Game...
Seriously, I do not know how some people do it....train for any sport plus have a partner/spouse, kidlets or all of the above to attend to. Last week was absolute choas for me. I had appointments and long work days and was trying to fit in all my workouts before and after work, as ususal. It got to the point where the parental unit and friends were calling or emailing to make sure I was alive as no one had heard from me. I want everyone to know how thankful I am for that. I'm grateful to know that there are people out there who love me enough to make sure I'm ok! At least I was able to zip off a couple of quick emails saying I'm alive, just super busy! Hopefully next week will be less crazy.
I guess I'm lucky in the sense that I have only my cats to worry about. Although the one was super pissed that I wasn't giving him much lovin'. (The other is a fraidy cat and likes to hide a lot. He's still wonderful though.) It made me wonder though how people with other committments do it?? For all of those out there who are training for an event AND working AND keeping up with your families - I give you a very big, jumping in the air, pounding chests, high five. Not to mention and all out 'HOOOYAAAAH!'. You guys rock!
So did I manage to get all my workouts in? Well, I did get in 99% of them. I have been wrestling with a very tight calve muscle (as my Pop would say 'it's tighter than a cow's ass in fly season!'), so I decided to bail on my Thursday ride and keep with my Friday day off plan. I had tried to push through it, did self massage, stretched it but nothing was working. It had gotten to the point where it was cramping when I was seated at my desk and it hurt when I walk. Time to take a bit of extra rest.
The rest and icing seemed to help as I felt good for my run/swim on Saturday. It was pulling a bit on the bike today, but I made sure to stretch it out and ice it after. Fingers crossed it's just a minor niggly and it will disappear soon.
My workouts this week went well. I had to contend with what looked like the remnants of a cat fight in the bottom of the pool on Tuesday. The quantity of hair in the deep end was beyond disgusting. Serioulsy, how the hell did it get there?! You have no idea how hard it is to swim and dry heave at the same time. My 'lost' bright orange ear plug was still at the bottom of the pool amongst this hairy mess so it made me wonder just how often they vacuum the pool! I really don't want to know the answer to that question.
Wednesday I had a great run, as documented in the one blog I finally wrote up yesterday. We did a timed "45" minute swim on Thursday (the cat fight hair had been removed thankfully) and I was really pleased with my distance. Our coach missed when our exact start time was, but knew we'd swam about 42-43 minutes. I didn't care about the extra 2 minutes because I swam 50 m faster than my last timed swim, which was the full 45 minutes. I'M GETTING FASTER!!! Now I just need to hold that pace for IMCDA...
I had a great run on Saturday with my friend Esther. We headed out along the 'Fosters' route. This route takes one through a fabulous trail. The section of trail is short, but it's worth being in there. I just love it as it reminds me of being home in BC. Lots of trees, bushes, a wee babbling brook and dirt trail with roots sticking up - just to keep you in the moment. There was still some icy bits so we had to mind our step in a couple of sections. Still it was gorgeous to run through.
I debated going out for a ride today, but I'm not as brave as some and decided to stick to the trainer. One of these days I will have to measure how much sweat I lose. By about the 1:45 mark there was a constant drip off the end of my ever so delicate schnoz to the mat below. Drip...drip...drip drip....drip. I imagine it occured because my 'I want to be like Faris' bandana was soaked through. This was in addition to the sweat dripping down my back and off my arms. Pretty gross and at the same time pretty cool. Only a crazy triathlete would think that...or perhaps a runner?
I managed to get my planking in and am happy to report I hit the 3 minute mark yesterday - after several attempts during the week. I have to share the secret of getting to this time... Normally I would get into position and start my watch. Then when I figured I'd been hanging and shaking long enough I'd drop thinking it had to be at least 2 minutes. I'd then look at my watch to see it was really about 1:20 min. Hmmm. This time I put the watch in front of me and did some major self talking. I kept saying, 'five more seconds - just hold it for five more seconds' over and over again. This seemed to do the trick.
Admittedly I flopped to the ground in pure exhaustion at 3 minutes. Let's just hope I don't sneeze or cough the next few days or I will end up dropping to the floor and going in to the fetal position due to core discomfort. I read afterwards that Julie also hit the 3 minute mark, which I was super happy to see!! Great job! Oh, so, uh, how much longer do we have to hold it now?? My side planks were ok, both were 1:05 minutes. I find them much harder.
So that's my week in a nutshell. This week is allegedly a rest week for me, although it doesn't appear that way according to my schedule....Gregory.... It's all good though. I'm seeing some great improvements so far this year. Very cool.
Peace out my friends!
I guess I'm lucky in the sense that I have only my cats to worry about. Although the one was super pissed that I wasn't giving him much lovin'. (The other is a fraidy cat and likes to hide a lot. He's still wonderful though.) It made me wonder though how people with other committments do it?? For all of those out there who are training for an event AND working AND keeping up with your families - I give you a very big, jumping in the air, pounding chests, high five. Not to mention and all out 'HOOOYAAAAH!'. You guys rock!
So did I manage to get all my workouts in? Well, I did get in 99% of them. I have been wrestling with a very tight calve muscle (as my Pop would say 'it's tighter than a cow's ass in fly season!'), so I decided to bail on my Thursday ride and keep with my Friday day off plan. I had tried to push through it, did self massage, stretched it but nothing was working. It had gotten to the point where it was cramping when I was seated at my desk and it hurt when I walk. Time to take a bit of extra rest.
The rest and icing seemed to help as I felt good for my run/swim on Saturday. It was pulling a bit on the bike today, but I made sure to stretch it out and ice it after. Fingers crossed it's just a minor niggly and it will disappear soon.
My workouts this week went well. I had to contend with what looked like the remnants of a cat fight in the bottom of the pool on Tuesday. The quantity of hair in the deep end was beyond disgusting. Serioulsy, how the hell did it get there?! You have no idea how hard it is to swim and dry heave at the same time. My 'lost' bright orange ear plug was still at the bottom of the pool amongst this hairy mess so it made me wonder just how often they vacuum the pool! I really don't want to know the answer to that question.
Wednesday I had a great run, as documented in the one blog I finally wrote up yesterday. We did a timed "45" minute swim on Thursday (the cat fight hair had been removed thankfully) and I was really pleased with my distance. Our coach missed when our exact start time was, but knew we'd swam about 42-43 minutes. I didn't care about the extra 2 minutes because I swam 50 m faster than my last timed swim, which was the full 45 minutes. I'M GETTING FASTER!!! Now I just need to hold that pace for IMCDA...
I had a great run on Saturday with my friend Esther. We headed out along the 'Fosters' route. This route takes one through a fabulous trail. The section of trail is short, but it's worth being in there. I just love it as it reminds me of being home in BC. Lots of trees, bushes, a wee babbling brook and dirt trail with roots sticking up - just to keep you in the moment. There was still some icy bits so we had to mind our step in a couple of sections. Still it was gorgeous to run through.
I debated going out for a ride today, but I'm not as brave as some and decided to stick to the trainer. One of these days I will have to measure how much sweat I lose. By about the 1:45 mark there was a constant drip off the end of my ever so delicate schnoz to the mat below. Drip...drip...drip drip....drip. I imagine it occured because my 'I want to be like Faris' bandana was soaked through. This was in addition to the sweat dripping down my back and off my arms. Pretty gross and at the same time pretty cool. Only a crazy triathlete would think that...or perhaps a runner?
I managed to get my planking in and am happy to report I hit the 3 minute mark yesterday - after several attempts during the week. I have to share the secret of getting to this time... Normally I would get into position and start my watch. Then when I figured I'd been hanging and shaking long enough I'd drop thinking it had to be at least 2 minutes. I'd then look at my watch to see it was really about 1:20 min. Hmmm. This time I put the watch in front of me and did some major self talking. I kept saying, 'five more seconds - just hold it for five more seconds' over and over again. This seemed to do the trick.
Admittedly I flopped to the ground in pure exhaustion at 3 minutes. Let's just hope I don't sneeze or cough the next few days or I will end up dropping to the floor and going in to the fetal position due to core discomfort. I read afterwards that Julie also hit the 3 minute mark, which I was super happy to see!! Great job! Oh, so, uh, how much longer do we have to hold it now?? My side planks were ok, both were 1:05 minutes. I find them much harder.
So that's my week in a nutshell. This week is allegedly a rest week for me, although it doesn't appear that way according to my schedule....Gregory.... It's all good though. I'm seeing some great improvements so far this year. Very cool.
Peace out my friends!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Dusk to Dark...
There are certain times when I find going out for a run can be thought of as ‘special’. Going for a run along the wooded trails in the rain and watching the raindrops falling from the brim of my ball cap, off leaves and trees; or running in the snow and being surrounded by big, fluffy snowflakes; running along a country road in the spring and feeling the sun warm and inviting on my face.
Tonight turned out to be another special run. I had a long day at work so I didn’t actually make it out the door until after 7:30 pm. This is not usual for me; I prefer to run at an earlier time so I don’t have to rush eating, getting my swim gear ready for the morning and being able to get to bed at an early enough time.
When I first headed out I was a little miffed at the late hour, but then I started to take a look around me. As I was running, I noticed the light of the day had started to fade and the moon was becoming more visible.
I ran along the trail that followed the river, also known as ‘My Happy Place’. When I turned along the path and started heading west again I was met with a beautiful sky in shades of blue, white, orange and pink. The trees and houses were already in silhouette. The streetlamps and the lights from the houses were slowly flickering on so I start could make out the individual neighborhoods.
I turned to run back eastwards and saw the semi-trailers going over the bridge with all their brilliant orange lights dotting the side of the trucks. The moon was playing peek-a-boo from behind the clouds. More streetlamps were on now and some of the light from them were reflected like shimmering lights in the rippling river.
Bright white patches of remaining snow were being revealed in amongst the trees and bushes.
By the time I was near the end of my run, the last remaining rays of daylight had dipped below the horizon and darkness had arrived. I ran along the pathway, in behind the houses and slowly, one by one, my running body triggered all the motion detector lights in the backyards. It was as if I was the star of a Broadway show!
I had started out the run wishing I had gone out earlier, but I ended the run grateful that I had the opportunity to watch the world transform from dusk to dark in all it’s glory.
Peace out my friends!
Tonight turned out to be another special run. I had a long day at work so I didn’t actually make it out the door until after 7:30 pm. This is not usual for me; I prefer to run at an earlier time so I don’t have to rush eating, getting my swim gear ready for the morning and being able to get to bed at an early enough time.
When I first headed out I was a little miffed at the late hour, but then I started to take a look around me. As I was running, I noticed the light of the day had started to fade and the moon was becoming more visible.
I ran along the trail that followed the river, also known as ‘My Happy Place’. When I turned along the path and started heading west again I was met with a beautiful sky in shades of blue, white, orange and pink. The trees and houses were already in silhouette. The streetlamps and the lights from the houses were slowly flickering on so I start could make out the individual neighborhoods.
I turned to run back eastwards and saw the semi-trailers going over the bridge with all their brilliant orange lights dotting the side of the trucks. The moon was playing peek-a-boo from behind the clouds. More streetlamps were on now and some of the light from them were reflected like shimmering lights in the rippling river.
Bright white patches of remaining snow were being revealed in amongst the trees and bushes.
By the time I was near the end of my run, the last remaining rays of daylight had dipped below the horizon and darkness had arrived. I ran along the pathway, in behind the houses and slowly, one by one, my running body triggered all the motion detector lights in the backyards. It was as if I was the star of a Broadway show!
I had started out the run wishing I had gone out earlier, but I ended the run grateful that I had the opportunity to watch the world transform from dusk to dark in all it’s glory.
Peace out my friends!
Saturday, 15 March 2008
A Satruday Run...
I woke up this morning tired of the tears. I had been crying spontaneously for the last couple of days, doing the 'poor me' thing. Not my style, but we all slip there sometimes.
Last night was my lowest point, as I'm sure can be felt by my blog. The worst was bursting into tears when I was on the phone with my Moeder. I felt horrible doing that as it's gotta suck being a parental unit, being hundreds of kilometers away and having their adult kidlet crying and knowing they can't do anything to help. At the same time, I had to call home because when I'm frustrated and upset all I want is my Mommy and Daddy. We are the three muskateers and even though they can't help, I just needed to talk to them.
So as I got ready for my run I thought, enough is enough. We've had our weepy moment, now it's time for action. As I headed out the door I cranked the tunes - it was definitely a punk rock morning. I could get through anything with the help of the Sex Pistols, Anthrax, and Violent Femmes. Hell, just to mix things up why not throw in a little of LL Cool J's "Momma Said Knock You Out'. I was going to run through the streets with my fist pounding the air in defiance of how I was feeling! I would head bang my way through this moment.
Okay, figuritively only, all that fist pounding and head banging would likely lead to me losing my balance and smacking my noggin on a tree or something. That would definitely not help the situation at all! Plus, I'd look like a dork. Actually, the dork part wouldn't bug me in the least. Heh heh.
So ran I did. I didn't feel 100%, but I'm used to that. I was just happy to be out and moving. Doing something. As I ran I thought of the situation and mulled about the various options I might have. Plans of attack, if you will.
I was supposed to be running at a low heart rate today, as per usual...but today I needed to burn off a little steam as I pondered. So I didn't really look at my monitor that much. As Keith has said in the past, you could see the frustration blowing off my body. By the time I got back home I'd mustered up some ideas...I'll discuss them with IG and with my nutritionist and go from there.
The one thing that is adding pressure to finding a solution is the fact that IMCDA is not that far off. In fact, the widget that was counting down felt like a bit of a ticking time bomb...hence it's been removed. No more 'tick, tick, tick' to add pressure! Phew.
I felt much better when I got home, ideas in mind. I had to run out and do some errands and then get my massage. (I wish I could say it was a relaxing massage, but it was rather painful, haha. Damn calves and IT band!)
So I thought the tears were through, but then I read the comments on my blog....and it was waterfall city again. haha. This time though, the tears were not of pain, anger, or frustration, but rather they were of gratitude. Gratitude for the support given from those I know and those I've never met.
Thank you so much for your kind words. They mean more than I could ever express. With that kind of support I know even in the icky times I'll get through it. Hugs to you all!
Peace out my friends.
Last night was my lowest point, as I'm sure can be felt by my blog. The worst was bursting into tears when I was on the phone with my Moeder. I felt horrible doing that as it's gotta suck being a parental unit, being hundreds of kilometers away and having their adult kidlet crying and knowing they can't do anything to help. At the same time, I had to call home because when I'm frustrated and upset all I want is my Mommy and Daddy. We are the three muskateers and even though they can't help, I just needed to talk to them.
So as I got ready for my run I thought, enough is enough. We've had our weepy moment, now it's time for action. As I headed out the door I cranked the tunes - it was definitely a punk rock morning. I could get through anything with the help of the Sex Pistols, Anthrax, and Violent Femmes. Hell, just to mix things up why not throw in a little of LL Cool J's "Momma Said Knock You Out'. I was going to run through the streets with my fist pounding the air in defiance of how I was feeling! I would head bang my way through this moment.
Okay, figuritively only, all that fist pounding and head banging would likely lead to me losing my balance and smacking my noggin on a tree or something. That would definitely not help the situation at all! Plus, I'd look like a dork. Actually, the dork part wouldn't bug me in the least. Heh heh.
So ran I did. I didn't feel 100%, but I'm used to that. I was just happy to be out and moving. Doing something. As I ran I thought of the situation and mulled about the various options I might have. Plans of attack, if you will.
I was supposed to be running at a low heart rate today, as per usual...but today I needed to burn off a little steam as I pondered. So I didn't really look at my monitor that much. As Keith has said in the past, you could see the frustration blowing off my body. By the time I got back home I'd mustered up some ideas...I'll discuss them with IG and with my nutritionist and go from there.
The one thing that is adding pressure to finding a solution is the fact that IMCDA is not that far off. In fact, the widget that was counting down felt like a bit of a ticking time bomb...hence it's been removed. No more 'tick, tick, tick' to add pressure! Phew.
I felt much better when I got home, ideas in mind. I had to run out and do some errands and then get my massage. (I wish I could say it was a relaxing massage, but it was rather painful, haha. Damn calves and IT band!)
So I thought the tears were through, but then I read the comments on my blog....and it was waterfall city again. haha. This time though, the tears were not of pain, anger, or frustration, but rather they were of gratitude. Gratitude for the support given from those I know and those I've never met.
Thank you so much for your kind words. They mean more than I could ever express. With that kind of support I know even in the icky times I'll get through it. Hugs to you all!
Peace out my friends.
Friday, 14 March 2008
What Can I Say...
It would appear that I have slipped back into intestinal hell. I'm having another flair up and after feebly trying to workout on the bike for 20 minutes last night, I got off the bike, changed, sat on the couch and proceeded to cry.
I was crying for a few reasons. One, I wanted to do the workout IG sent cause it was a good one. Two I hated that I got off the bike; I felt like I gave up. Last, I hurt, I'm tired and I'm frustrated; I had thought I could 'muscle' through this flair up.
I've been battling this intestinal thing for many years now. In my old life I would just go home, lay down and hope that when I woke up things would be better. Sometimes they were, and sometimes they weren't.
Nowadays I'm asking a lot of my body with my training. That is part of the reason the frequency and duration of these flair ups has increased. I could give up my IM goals and perhaps they would lessen, but then I'd be giving up something that I love and that has become my life. So now what to do?
I've been to two GI specialists, and have yet another appointment with one in April. As of yet, Western medicine has not helped. They've shrugged and said, 'We're sorry, but you don't have the top three intestinal disorders so we can't help you and you'll have to figure out how to make yourself well.' I've also been seeing a Naturopath, and that seemed to help for a time, but no longer.
Diets, yes, I've tried many things. Even the 'Thrive Diet' Kelsey recently mentioned. I've removed meat, soy, dairy (save for the odd chocolate binge), and wheat/gluten from my diet. I'm still not well.
Stress plays a role in all of this and it's a vicious circle. I have 'healthy' stress from training and racing, and I have unhealthy stress from being so frustrated that my body is not cooperating with me. I'm tired of so many things - having to be picky about eating (it's annoying for my friends as well), the embarassment of the situation when I have flair ups, the constant rumblings and movements going on inside me, the feeling of having the life sucked out of me, the frustration of not knowing how to fix this, the fear of how this is going to affect IMCDA, and the tears. I hate being a wimp.
A friend of mine recently gave me a book on intestinal disorders called 'Breaking the Vicious Circle'. I started reading it last night and have already finished it. It too calls for healing through diet, but this one is quite restrictive. I'm tempted as I'm willing to try anything if it will help, but in doing this diet I'm not sure how I would get enough nutrition in for training or during a race. Can one race while not taking in sugars other than from fruits? I don't know what to do.
On one hand this diet (that has been used on patients since the late 50's) will apparantly bring your system back to a 'normal' state if you stay on it for approximately two years. Hmm, I could have a 'normal' life in two years. On the other hand, could I really do a diet like this for two years? Then I think, all these diets seem to make sense initially, and sometimes they help at the start, but then I still end up at the same spot I was in originally. Which is where I am now.
I wish so badly that there was someone that I could talk to about this. Someone who races Ironman who could give me some suggestions on what works. Even someone that's tried the above and can suggest how I can race while following such a diet. I know there isn't though, because IBS patients all have different symptoms and treatments. So I'm on my own.
The really ironic thing about this was that when I was swimming yesterday I was thinking how cool it was that I ran the night before and was in the pool in the morning pushing on even after the flair up started. I was also thinking about others I know or whom I've read about who are involved in triathlon. There are those who have started later in life, those with children, those who are physically challenged, and those who battle cancer, ALS, and other life threatening diseases. I thought about the triathlete spirit and how we all face adversity in some way, shape or form yet we continue on even in the face of adversity. Yet another reason why I love this sport so much.
In some ways that made me feel guilty for getting upset over this and for giving up on the bike last night. In other ways it reminds me that with a positive mindset anything can be accomplished. Sometimes, though, it's difficult to find the positive when you are in a fog. I know the fog will soon lift and I will try another diet, or treatment with renewed hope. Who knows, perhaps this time it will finally work.
Peace out my friends.
I was crying for a few reasons. One, I wanted to do the workout IG sent cause it was a good one. Two I hated that I got off the bike; I felt like I gave up. Last, I hurt, I'm tired and I'm frustrated; I had thought I could 'muscle' through this flair up.
I've been battling this intestinal thing for many years now. In my old life I would just go home, lay down and hope that when I woke up things would be better. Sometimes they were, and sometimes they weren't.
Nowadays I'm asking a lot of my body with my training. That is part of the reason the frequency and duration of these flair ups has increased. I could give up my IM goals and perhaps they would lessen, but then I'd be giving up something that I love and that has become my life. So now what to do?
I've been to two GI specialists, and have yet another appointment with one in April. As of yet, Western medicine has not helped. They've shrugged and said, 'We're sorry, but you don't have the top three intestinal disorders so we can't help you and you'll have to figure out how to make yourself well.' I've also been seeing a Naturopath, and that seemed to help for a time, but no longer.
Diets, yes, I've tried many things. Even the 'Thrive Diet' Kelsey recently mentioned. I've removed meat, soy, dairy (save for the odd chocolate binge), and wheat/gluten from my diet. I'm still not well.
Stress plays a role in all of this and it's a vicious circle. I have 'healthy' stress from training and racing, and I have unhealthy stress from being so frustrated that my body is not cooperating with me. I'm tired of so many things - having to be picky about eating (it's annoying for my friends as well), the embarassment of the situation when I have flair ups, the constant rumblings and movements going on inside me, the feeling of having the life sucked out of me, the frustration of not knowing how to fix this, the fear of how this is going to affect IMCDA, and the tears. I hate being a wimp.
A friend of mine recently gave me a book on intestinal disorders called 'Breaking the Vicious Circle'. I started reading it last night and have already finished it. It too calls for healing through diet, but this one is quite restrictive. I'm tempted as I'm willing to try anything if it will help, but in doing this diet I'm not sure how I would get enough nutrition in for training or during a race. Can one race while not taking in sugars other than from fruits? I don't know what to do.
On one hand this diet (that has been used on patients since the late 50's) will apparantly bring your system back to a 'normal' state if you stay on it for approximately two years. Hmm, I could have a 'normal' life in two years. On the other hand, could I really do a diet like this for two years? Then I think, all these diets seem to make sense initially, and sometimes they help at the start, but then I still end up at the same spot I was in originally. Which is where I am now.
I wish so badly that there was someone that I could talk to about this. Someone who races Ironman who could give me some suggestions on what works. Even someone that's tried the above and can suggest how I can race while following such a diet. I know there isn't though, because IBS patients all have different symptoms and treatments. So I'm on my own.
The really ironic thing about this was that when I was swimming yesterday I was thinking how cool it was that I ran the night before and was in the pool in the morning pushing on even after the flair up started. I was also thinking about others I know or whom I've read about who are involved in triathlon. There are those who have started later in life, those with children, those who are physically challenged, and those who battle cancer, ALS, and other life threatening diseases. I thought about the triathlete spirit and how we all face adversity in some way, shape or form yet we continue on even in the face of adversity. Yet another reason why I love this sport so much.
In some ways that made me feel guilty for getting upset over this and for giving up on the bike last night. In other ways it reminds me that with a positive mindset anything can be accomplished. Sometimes, though, it's difficult to find the positive when you are in a fog. I know the fog will soon lift and I will try another diet, or treatment with renewed hope. Who knows, perhaps this time it will finally work.
Peace out my friends.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Ch-Ch-Chilly Out There!!!
Today was one of those days when my gut was not cooperating. I'm not sure why things are coming back, I was fine in Malaysia! Maybe I'm meant to eat only fish curry and rice?! Anyways, I was dealing with some serious sharp pains for a few hours this afternoon. Not fun at the best of times and even worse when you are stuck in a day long clients training session with your boss and coworkers. Rats! I was kind of wondering how my run was going to go tonight...
Surprsingly, it went well. I ran for 1:40 hour from the west side of town, where I live, all the way to the east side of town and back again. It was pretty nice out when I started out, but it sure cooled down later on. Nothing like running into a cold head wind to motivate you to get home sooner rather than later, haha.
At the start of the run I was having some HR strap issues. I think I may have lost some padding on my ribs cause lately my HR strap has been digging in on my rib. As I ran down the hill from my house, the strap was slowly slipping down, down and down. I decided till I was on the trail to adjust things. I tried to scooch it up and under the old jog bra without having to lift my shirt, but to no avail. So I had to lift my shirt up to move things around. Now, now, I wasn't showing anything so let's not all get in a tizzy. Well, at least I don't think I was....
As I had my shirt up and was moving the strap up I could feel the wind wrap around me. At this point I realized that my leggings were slung a wee bit low and perhaps there was just a bit of plumber butt going on, haha. It was then I remembered the email I got from a friend showing just another use for duct tape...hmmm....
Surprsingly, it went well. I ran for 1:40 hour from the west side of town, where I live, all the way to the east side of town and back again. It was pretty nice out when I started out, but it sure cooled down later on. Nothing like running into a cold head wind to motivate you to get home sooner rather than later, haha.
At the start of the run I was having some HR strap issues. I think I may have lost some padding on my ribs cause lately my HR strap has been digging in on my rib. As I ran down the hill from my house, the strap was slowly slipping down, down and down. I decided till I was on the trail to adjust things. I tried to scooch it up and under the old jog bra without having to lift my shirt, but to no avail. So I had to lift my shirt up to move things around. Now, now, I wasn't showing anything so let's not all get in a tizzy. Well, at least I don't think I was....
As I had my shirt up and was moving the strap up I could feel the wind wrap around me. At this point I realized that my leggings were slung a wee bit low and perhaps there was just a bit of plumber butt going on, haha. It was then I remembered the email I got from a friend showing just another use for duct tape...hmmm....
Perhaps next time I'll just make sure my leggings are done up a bit tighter, haha.
Peace out my friends!
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Milestone Achieved...
I BROKE THE 20 MINUTE MARK IN MY TIMED 1000 M SWIM THIS MORNING!!!!!
You have NO idea how exciting that is for me. For my first timed swim in the end of 2005 (when I first started swimming) I was at 30+ minutes. Since then, I have been trying FOREVER to get past the 20 minute marker. Last year the best I did was 20:20 minutes. Urgh! So close yet so far!
This morning though I had a great swim, I used proper technique (thank you IG!!) and worked hard and my final time was 19:34 minutes. The last 500 m it would seem I was quite consistent and doing 1 minute 50's. I do wonder; however, if I could have eeked out a bit less time had I not completely missed the wall on two of my flipturns, haha. Yup, twice I flipped, felt no wall and my feet and was like "SHITE!" as I started pulling hard at the water to get going. Is all good though, I'm quite happy with my time.
Of course, as I am a triathlete, I will now set a new time to break....not telling what it is though!! Tee hee.
After quite the swim, I achieved another milestone tonight....this time on the bike! I managed to get up to 168 bpm while doing MAP's (not sure what that acronym stands for...only know it means PAIN!).
Okay, so the task was 2 groups of 5 times a set of 2x2. Does that make sense?? The 2x2 part was 2 minutes at threshold heart rate and 2 minutes easy at 90 rpm. The most I've gotten my heart rate to in the past was 157 bpm, but when I conferred with IG this afternoon he said the goal would be to try and get it to an upper zone 4 heart rate. The operative word there being TRY.
As I have mentioned in the past, it would appear that if IG asks my body to do something, it does. Stupid body. Doesn't listen to me when I say 'ow, ow, ow'. Nooooo. Always has to do what IG says. Sheesh.
I gotta say during the first set of 2 minutes at AT I was thinking, holy shite this friggin hurts! How many more sets do I have?! And why, oh why do the 2 minutes where you are pushing hard seem to go on FOREVER, yet the 2 minute recovery just zips by! Crap!
My breathing seemed almost inhuman for the last 30 seconds of each set. It was insane. Oh, and Keith and Jenna will be happy to know that I did spit up a little in my mouth. haha. I actually giggled and said 'ew' with that one. The giggle was because of Keith and Jenna, and the ew, well, that's pretty obvious I think. At least I didn't hurl on the floor or anything!! (At this point the parental unit will be shaking their head and asking why their daughter delights in this stuff?!)
For the majority of the sets my max heart rate was 166 bpm. My total ride time was 1:30 hours. Not bad for a gal who woke up this morning totally stuffed up, with eyes partially sealed by eye goobers (yuck!) and itchy lungs. Sigh. I can't wait till this cold or whatever passes!
What a day!!!
Peace out my friends!!
PS Ignore my prior record one legged spin times. Apparantly, she says with eyes rolling, one must do the spins at a cadence above 60 rpm - according to IG. I was below that so I am back to square one. Record time has been reduced to 1:45 minute and 1:15 minute. Rats!
You have NO idea how exciting that is for me. For my first timed swim in the end of 2005 (when I first started swimming) I was at 30+ minutes. Since then, I have been trying FOREVER to get past the 20 minute marker. Last year the best I did was 20:20 minutes. Urgh! So close yet so far!
This morning though I had a great swim, I used proper technique (thank you IG!!) and worked hard and my final time was 19:34 minutes. The last 500 m it would seem I was quite consistent and doing 1 minute 50's. I do wonder; however, if I could have eeked out a bit less time had I not completely missed the wall on two of my flipturns, haha. Yup, twice I flipped, felt no wall and my feet and was like "SHITE!" as I started pulling hard at the water to get going. Is all good though, I'm quite happy with my time.
Of course, as I am a triathlete, I will now set a new time to break....not telling what it is though!! Tee hee.
After quite the swim, I achieved another milestone tonight....this time on the bike! I managed to get up to 168 bpm while doing MAP's (not sure what that acronym stands for...only know it means PAIN!).
Okay, so the task was 2 groups of 5 times a set of 2x2. Does that make sense?? The 2x2 part was 2 minutes at threshold heart rate and 2 minutes easy at 90 rpm. The most I've gotten my heart rate to in the past was 157 bpm, but when I conferred with IG this afternoon he said the goal would be to try and get it to an upper zone 4 heart rate. The operative word there being TRY.
As I have mentioned in the past, it would appear that if IG asks my body to do something, it does. Stupid body. Doesn't listen to me when I say 'ow, ow, ow'. Nooooo. Always has to do what IG says. Sheesh.
I gotta say during the first set of 2 minutes at AT I was thinking, holy shite this friggin hurts! How many more sets do I have?! And why, oh why do the 2 minutes where you are pushing hard seem to go on FOREVER, yet the 2 minute recovery just zips by! Crap!
My breathing seemed almost inhuman for the last 30 seconds of each set. It was insane. Oh, and Keith and Jenna will be happy to know that I did spit up a little in my mouth. haha. I actually giggled and said 'ew' with that one. The giggle was because of Keith and Jenna, and the ew, well, that's pretty obvious I think. At least I didn't hurl on the floor or anything!! (At this point the parental unit will be shaking their head and asking why their daughter delights in this stuff?!)
For the majority of the sets my max heart rate was 166 bpm. My total ride time was 1:30 hours. Not bad for a gal who woke up this morning totally stuffed up, with eyes partially sealed by eye goobers (yuck!) and itchy lungs. Sigh. I can't wait till this cold or whatever passes!
What a day!!!
Peace out my friends!!
PS Ignore my prior record one legged spin times. Apparantly, she says with eyes rolling, one must do the spins at a cadence above 60 rpm - according to IG. I was below that so I am back to square one. Record time has been reduced to 1:45 minute and 1:15 minute. Rats!
Monday, 10 March 2008
Ray of Light...
As I sat in cubicle hell at work, where nary a ray of sunshine doth cross my path, I thought to myself...aaaah, won't it be nice to go for a run after work and soak up the last of the days sunshiny rays.
Alas, by the time I got home the wind had picked up and the clouds had moved in. Oh well, it was still warm, relatively speaking. At any rate I got home, donned my running duds, put my hair up in a cute ponytail that would merrily dance as I ran and off I went.
As I ran along the red rock path I found myself 'chasing' a wee squirrel. Well, ok, not chasing as the little guy sure had more speed than I did, so lets just say I was running behind mr. squirrel. It was hard not to laugh at him as his teeny butt was going up and down as he ran with his front two feet leaping, and then his back two feet leaping alternately. Why I found this funny, I know not. I just did. So I laughed. Evantually he ran off the path. I think my laughing must have ticked him off because when I was running on my way back I was chirped at quite vigorously by a squirrel in the trees. I have a feeling he wasn't saying 'have a great run Suse!'. haha.
Well, that's all I have to post for tonights blog. What can I say. The IGP called for a 45 minute EZ run with strides. So that's what I did. I ran. For 45 minutes. Easy. Even though I live at the top of a loooong hill. I ran. Easy. End of story. Now go write your own blog.
Peace out my friends.
Alas, by the time I got home the wind had picked up and the clouds had moved in. Oh well, it was still warm, relatively speaking. At any rate I got home, donned my running duds, put my hair up in a cute ponytail that would merrily dance as I ran and off I went.
As I ran along the red rock path I found myself 'chasing' a wee squirrel. Well, ok, not chasing as the little guy sure had more speed than I did, so lets just say I was running behind mr. squirrel. It was hard not to laugh at him as his teeny butt was going up and down as he ran with his front two feet leaping, and then his back two feet leaping alternately. Why I found this funny, I know not. I just did. So I laughed. Evantually he ran off the path. I think my laughing must have ticked him off because when I was running on my way back I was chirped at quite vigorously by a squirrel in the trees. I have a feeling he wasn't saying 'have a great run Suse!'. haha.
Well, that's all I have to post for tonights blog. What can I say. The IGP called for a 45 minute EZ run with strides. So that's what I did. I ran. For 45 minutes. Easy. Even though I live at the top of a loooong hill. I ran. Easy. End of story. Now go write your own blog.
Peace out my friends.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Just Get On The Damn Bike!!!
I'm not sure if I'm still dealing with jetlag, or if I'm actually fighting off some sort of airborne disease. My throat is still sore (never really left me since being icky in KL), my nose is half stuffy and my lungs are achy/itchy. Oh, and to top it off my noggin hurts a bit. Sigh.
Because of all this I had quite the internal argument this morning regarding my workout. It went something like this, "Ugh, I feel like crap. Quit yer whining and get your gear on. Would it really matter if I missed one workout? Uh, YA. Dude, we have a goal to achieve at IMCDA so you better get your arse on that bike. But I feel like crap. Puhleez, it's a little sore throat and a wimpy cough. Deal with it. What if it doesn't go away?? Look, you have to work out cause if you don't, all your blog buddies will know and how is that going to look?! It's called accountibility missy! Who's idea was it to write a stupid blog anyways....GREGORY! Fine! I will get my arse on the bike. Hmpfff."
So I got my gear on, headed out my bedroom door and ran into my roomie. We hadn't seen each other in forever so I stopped to chat and catch up on his life. Oh, and yes, this was a stalling technique. haha. We chatted for about a half an hour until he said 'Don't you have to work out?'. Bastard! LOL.
So I made my way down to the dungeon and got on the bike. It was a bit slow to get going, that's for sure. I decided to have fun and see how long I could do a one legged spin before I 'klunked' over the top of the stroke. I managed to go for 3:14 minutes with the right leg and 3:29 minutes wiht the left leg. Admittedly as I was going along there I was losing my amusement for this game, haha.
After a 20 minute warmup I got into the main set. Nothing complicated. I was to do sets of 6:30min in high zone 2 and 3:30min in low zone 2. I actually didn't feel too bad throughout the workout. My legs felt strong and weren't tired - always a bonus. I have a lot on the brain these days so was trying to think my thoughts. It was funny cause I could tell when I was getting somewhat worked up about a subject because the frustration would flow through to my pedal stroke, I'd push harder and of course my heart rate would go up, haha. Oops.
Not having the tv or music on actually makes these workouts better. I focus on my cadence, my heart rate, and work out the thoughts in my brain. It's almost meditative.
The total length of my bike was 1:45. My throat, lungs and noggin still don't feel great. However, mentally I feel great because I got the job done and had a great workout. AND I can write in my blog that I did. LOL.
Stupid accountibility....
Peace out my friends.
Because of all this I had quite the internal argument this morning regarding my workout. It went something like this, "Ugh, I feel like crap. Quit yer whining and get your gear on. Would it really matter if I missed one workout? Uh, YA. Dude, we have a goal to achieve at IMCDA so you better get your arse on that bike. But I feel like crap. Puhleez, it's a little sore throat and a wimpy cough. Deal with it. What if it doesn't go away?? Look, you have to work out cause if you don't, all your blog buddies will know and how is that going to look?! It's called accountibility missy! Who's idea was it to write a stupid blog anyways....GREGORY! Fine! I will get my arse on the bike. Hmpfff."
So I got my gear on, headed out my bedroom door and ran into my roomie. We hadn't seen each other in forever so I stopped to chat and catch up on his life. Oh, and yes, this was a stalling technique. haha. We chatted for about a half an hour until he said 'Don't you have to work out?'. Bastard! LOL.
So I made my way down to the dungeon and got on the bike. It was a bit slow to get going, that's for sure. I decided to have fun and see how long I could do a one legged spin before I 'klunked' over the top of the stroke. I managed to go for 3:14 minutes with the right leg and 3:29 minutes wiht the left leg. Admittedly as I was going along there I was losing my amusement for this game, haha.
After a 20 minute warmup I got into the main set. Nothing complicated. I was to do sets of 6:30min in high zone 2 and 3:30min in low zone 2. I actually didn't feel too bad throughout the workout. My legs felt strong and weren't tired - always a bonus. I have a lot on the brain these days so was trying to think my thoughts. It was funny cause I could tell when I was getting somewhat worked up about a subject because the frustration would flow through to my pedal stroke, I'd push harder and of course my heart rate would go up, haha. Oops.
Not having the tv or music on actually makes these workouts better. I focus on my cadence, my heart rate, and work out the thoughts in my brain. It's almost meditative.
The total length of my bike was 1:45. My throat, lungs and noggin still don't feel great. However, mentally I feel great because I got the job done and had a great workout. AND I can write in my blog that I did. LOL.
Stupid accountibility....
Peace out my friends.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Running With Icebergs...
A very short while ago I was running with palm trees...and today I ran with icebergs. Okay, perhaps they weren't huge like icebergs, but there was a ton of thick ice!
I went running with my buddy Esther today. It turned out to be a gorgeous spring day. Not a cloud in the sky and although the wind we felt running west was a bit cool, when we were running back east I had to shed my light jacket.
I was grumbling a bit about wanting to be back in the hot sun, so Esther started pointing out how beautiful it was here with the river flowing, the mountains in the background and the blue blue sky. Too funny. She is right though, it is beautiful here...I just wish it was warm all year round, haha. Give me global warming! (Kidding!!)
The run itself was good. My legs were slightly resistant to get going at the start, but finally kicked in. She noted that my pace was faster since the last time we ran, but my heart rate was where it should be (it popped up a couple of times), so I'm pretty pleased with that.
On the way back to the Rec. Ctr., where we started our run from, we realized we'd only run 50 minutes. Last time we ran together (at the beginning of the year) we ran this route in an hour, so somehow we've shed 10 minutes. Not bad. As the run was to be an hour, we kept along the path that followed the river. That's when we saw the 'icebergs'.
I've never seen anything like it on this path! At this point, the path dips down and is at the same level as the river. The river bends here and I guess there was a bit of an ice jam so all the ice has broken up and been pushed up onto the pathway and the land along there. It was wild! I wish I had a camera. The ice was at least a foot thick too. A lady who was walking her dog mentioned it had receeded since last week. Amazing!
We picked our way around the ice and finished up the run along the roadway.
We hit the gym after and met up with our buddy Paddy. I did my usual upper body workout. I'd only hit the weights once on the trip so was happy to be back in the gym. It's like my meditative zone, haha.
At one point 'Baby Got Back' came on my mp3 player. For those of you who don't know, this is my theme song and it's pretty much impossible for me not to get jiggy with it when the song is playing. I care not where I am or who's looking and today was no exception. I was in one of the training rooms with Paddy and Esther so started singing the song and shaking my booty. Lord only knows if I was singing on key or not, but it got the girls laughing and that's all that matters.
(I might mention I was even 'caught on tape' shaking my booty to this song at IMC as I started on the run....my friends daughters were singing it for me along the road, haha.)
As I went to reach for my lock on the locker my arms started to shake...a sign of a good workout. Will be interesting to see how they feel tomorrow though...
I went running with my buddy Esther today. It turned out to be a gorgeous spring day. Not a cloud in the sky and although the wind we felt running west was a bit cool, when we were running back east I had to shed my light jacket.
I was grumbling a bit about wanting to be back in the hot sun, so Esther started pointing out how beautiful it was here with the river flowing, the mountains in the background and the blue blue sky. Too funny. She is right though, it is beautiful here...I just wish it was warm all year round, haha. Give me global warming! (Kidding!!)
The run itself was good. My legs were slightly resistant to get going at the start, but finally kicked in. She noted that my pace was faster since the last time we ran, but my heart rate was where it should be (it popped up a couple of times), so I'm pretty pleased with that.
On the way back to the Rec. Ctr., where we started our run from, we realized we'd only run 50 minutes. Last time we ran together (at the beginning of the year) we ran this route in an hour, so somehow we've shed 10 minutes. Not bad. As the run was to be an hour, we kept along the path that followed the river. That's when we saw the 'icebergs'.
I've never seen anything like it on this path! At this point, the path dips down and is at the same level as the river. The river bends here and I guess there was a bit of an ice jam so all the ice has broken up and been pushed up onto the pathway and the land along there. It was wild! I wish I had a camera. The ice was at least a foot thick too. A lady who was walking her dog mentioned it had receeded since last week. Amazing!
We picked our way around the ice and finished up the run along the roadway.
We hit the gym after and met up with our buddy Paddy. I did my usual upper body workout. I'd only hit the weights once on the trip so was happy to be back in the gym. It's like my meditative zone, haha.
At one point 'Baby Got Back' came on my mp3 player. For those of you who don't know, this is my theme song and it's pretty much impossible for me not to get jiggy with it when the song is playing. I care not where I am or who's looking and today was no exception. I was in one of the training rooms with Paddy and Esther so started singing the song and shaking my booty. Lord only knows if I was singing on key or not, but it got the girls laughing and that's all that matters.
(I might mention I was even 'caught on tape' shaking my booty to this song at IMC as I started on the run....my friends daughters were singing it for me along the road, haha.)
As I went to reach for my lock on the locker my arms started to shake...a sign of a good workout. Will be interesting to see how they feel tomorrow though...
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Very Sleeepy...
So...tired...No...energy...
Hate...jet...lag...
Swam...today...
Biked...today...
Can't...keep...eyes...open...
Front...plank...2:05 min...
Right...plank...0:54 min...
Left...plank...1:01 min...
Must...sleep...now...sigh...
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
The Plank Challenge...
Okay, so in catching up on some blogs I noticed Julie's post about holding the plank for an unGodly amount of time (btw - awesome job dude!). So I got to thinking....we tri geek bloggers should do a challenge.
Here's what I propose:
Once a week (or more if you should choose) we hold a front plank and a side plank (each side) and time ourselves as Julie did! Each week we will post our times and see how we do. (Extra points for those who have a cat or dog standing on their bod as they do this too!)
Now this isn't about challenging Julie or anyone else (feel free to though, haha), but rather about challenging ourselves to beat our own times and to do this a minimum of once a week!
Even though it's a challenge, there are no losers as we will all win at having kick ass core strength.
So, all those in favour of signing up for the plank challenge say 'EDDIE VEDDER IS GOD!!'. LOL.
Oh, and for those who really want a challenge - feel free to add chinups to your weekly goal!
Here's what I propose:
Once a week (or more if you should choose) we hold a front plank and a side plank (each side) and time ourselves as Julie did! Each week we will post our times and see how we do. (Extra points for those who have a cat or dog standing on their bod as they do this too!)
Now this isn't about challenging Julie or anyone else (feel free to though, haha), but rather about challenging ourselves to beat our own times and to do this a minimum of once a week!
Even though it's a challenge, there are no losers as we will all win at having kick ass core strength.
So, all those in favour of signing up for the plank challenge say 'EDDIE VEDDER IS GOD!!'. LOL.
Oh, and for those who really want a challenge - feel free to add chinups to your weekly goal!
Holy Jetlag Batman!!!
I am SO glad I got my bike workout done yesterday in the morning because by mid afternoon I had a wicket migraine and vertigo. Urgh. I have never experienced jetlag before, but I can say it's officially kicking my arse.
Not only have I got the vertigo thing going, but my sleeping is totally erratic. I tried my best not to sleep during the day so I would sleep at night. Admittedly I nodded off a bit with the headache - but not a long time!!
I was out cold at 9pm last night and slept hard for two hours. That's when I woke up abruptly with the urge to use the loo. I stood up, caught myself from falling over (stupid vertigo), then stood there in total confusion thinking 'uh, where the hell am I? and where the hell is Greg?'. LOL.
Now I realize that might sound funny, but up to the night before we'd been together 24 hrs a day for 16 days! So I guess I kind of expected him to be there because for a while there I actually thought I might be in one of the hotels! Yup, that's just how friggin out of it I was, haha.
The really weird thing was that I think I kind of new I was in my room cause I knew to go straight ahead to the loo. Even though I could figure that out, I still wasn't sure if I was in my house or the hotel, haha. So there I am sitting on the pot thinking, am I really home? Then I started worrying that I really was in a hotel and I didn't close the bathroom door and there was the chance that Greg would find me on the throne!! LOL. This whole process took about 3 minutes to go through. It was all very confusing, and strange, haha.
Finally I figured it all out and fell back asleep for a short time. I kept waking up though and finally got up at 4am. Sigh.
Needless to say my first day back at work was difficult. By 2pm I needed toothpicks for my eyes. I won't even describe the commute home for fear of worrying the parental unit.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to pull off a run tonight as I felt like Mr. Magoo. I decided that the trick would be to walk in the door, not let my arse cheeks pull me to the couch, run upstairs, change and bolt! So that's what I did.
Considering how I felt this afternoon, I actually had a really great run! I worked on my gait and integrating IG's pointers from our holiday. (No secrets here, he suggested I shorten my stride and increase my cadence.) I think I was able to that tonight. IG said the point is not to let you foot contact the surface for too long, kinda like running on hot coals. So this is what I focussed on. I found it was easy to do when running on loose gravel (of which we have an overabundance on the side of our roads from when it was snowy!) Just by listening to how my foot was landing on the gravel I could tell if I was flicking it behind me, which is good, or doing a heel strike and pushing it forward, thereby braking - not what one wants to do. All very interesting.
I should add it was also nice to run after work and have it still be light out! I could actually run on the trails and not be freaked out by bear looking garbage cans or tombstone shaped stumps! haha. (Can you say overactive imagination boys and girls?!)
I ran for an hour and a half tonight in a low zone 2 heart rate. I actually felt that I had a faster pace with my new running technique. I don't wear a Garmin so am not sure of the pace. However, I think the point is that I FELT faster so even if I wasn't, I really don't care. So there! haha.
Not only have I got the vertigo thing going, but my sleeping is totally erratic. I tried my best not to sleep during the day so I would sleep at night. Admittedly I nodded off a bit with the headache - but not a long time!!
I was out cold at 9pm last night and slept hard for two hours. That's when I woke up abruptly with the urge to use the loo. I stood up, caught myself from falling over (stupid vertigo), then stood there in total confusion thinking 'uh, where the hell am I? and where the hell is Greg?'. LOL.
Now I realize that might sound funny, but up to the night before we'd been together 24 hrs a day for 16 days! So I guess I kind of expected him to be there because for a while there I actually thought I might be in one of the hotels! Yup, that's just how friggin out of it I was, haha.
The really weird thing was that I think I kind of new I was in my room cause I knew to go straight ahead to the loo. Even though I could figure that out, I still wasn't sure if I was in my house or the hotel, haha. So there I am sitting on the pot thinking, am I really home? Then I started worrying that I really was in a hotel and I didn't close the bathroom door and there was the chance that Greg would find me on the throne!! LOL. This whole process took about 3 minutes to go through. It was all very confusing, and strange, haha.
Finally I figured it all out and fell back asleep for a short time. I kept waking up though and finally got up at 4am. Sigh.
Needless to say my first day back at work was difficult. By 2pm I needed toothpicks for my eyes. I won't even describe the commute home for fear of worrying the parental unit.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to pull off a run tonight as I felt like Mr. Magoo. I decided that the trick would be to walk in the door, not let my arse cheeks pull me to the couch, run upstairs, change and bolt! So that's what I did.
Considering how I felt this afternoon, I actually had a really great run! I worked on my gait and integrating IG's pointers from our holiday. (No secrets here, he suggested I shorten my stride and increase my cadence.) I think I was able to that tonight. IG said the point is not to let you foot contact the surface for too long, kinda like running on hot coals. So this is what I focussed on. I found it was easy to do when running on loose gravel (of which we have an overabundance on the side of our roads from when it was snowy!) Just by listening to how my foot was landing on the gravel I could tell if I was flicking it behind me, which is good, or doing a heel strike and pushing it forward, thereby braking - not what one wants to do. All very interesting.
I should add it was also nice to run after work and have it still be light out! I could actually run on the trails and not be freaked out by bear looking garbage cans or tombstone shaped stumps! haha. (Can you say overactive imagination boys and girls?!)
I ran for an hour and a half tonight in a low zone 2 heart rate. I actually felt that I had a faster pace with my new running technique. I don't wear a Garmin so am not sure of the pace. However, I think the point is that I FELT faster so even if I wasn't, I really don't care. So there! haha.
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Grumble, Grumble...
Well, we are back from wonderfully warm Malayisa....and I've been cold ever since, haha.
Perhaps it's the jet lag, the need for layers of clothes, the fatigue or the fact that my equilibrium seems to be off (jet lag side effect??), but I'm rather grumpy about being home. Sigh...
What can one do in this situation other than plot and plan for another adventure. Next time though I think I'd like to race...time to start surfing the net for early season IM's that are in warm countries!
I did continue my training when I was in Malaysia. I went running the day after the IM around the streets of Kuah. This time I took a different route and follow the road that I had walked back along from the bike turnaround.
As I was running I kept coming up to police barracades. I wasn't sure what they were for, or if I should ask. I did, however, ask if it was ok for me to run through. To which I was met with many smiles and teasing about 'the finish line is that way!' and 'why are you still running? the race is over!'. Oh funny, funny policeman, haha. I didn't bother trying to explain that I had been a cheerleader rather than a participant. If they wanted to believe I could do an IM then run the next day - then who was I to correct them! LOL.
When we went down to Kuala Lumpur I ran in the gym a couple of times. The streets are way to busy to try to run along. Plus the air isn't quite 'fresh'. I managed to get a swim in at the pool as well.
The rest of my training was bascially walking, and walking, and walking. I swear, we walked for hours a day every day. It was nuts, but a great way to explore your surroundings. I wish I had a pedometer to track how far we went. I do know that one day we must have been wandering around for about 6 or 7 hours. Phew!
My one foot took a beating from all this. Actually, more my baby toe. I had blisters upon blisters to the point that it looked like I had a two baby toes. Ew. Greg was teasing me that my foot looked worse than his did after IM. Greeeat. The toe is still in so-so shape. We'll see how running goes tomorrow.
Today was my first full day home so it was time to 'get back in the saddle'...literally. I hadn't been on a bike since I left so was eager to do so, even though my body wasn't sure this was a good idea. That was just the jet lag talking though.
I really want to get better on the bike this season - especially after seeing some amazing athletes (our Greg most especially) at IM Malaysia. So I decided that I need to be a hermit on the bike. No music. No television. No distractions. Just me and hours of focusing on what the bod was doing on the bike. Very exciting, I know! haha.
As I hopped onto the bike I was mighty glad it was attached to a trainer as my head was spinning and if I had been riding on the road I'm sure I would have fallen over a few times. heh heh. (The equilibrium thing again.) I figured I'd go for an hour and a half. See how I felt.
The good news is I had a pretty good workout. I did a 20 min warm up, 60 min steady state bike (at mid/high zone 2 heart rate) and then a 10 min cool down. I felt not too bad - phew! I was pretty worried I'd lost all my bike fitness over the last two weeks. I actually even managed to hold my one legged spinning for a minute with no dead spots in the pedal stroke and with good strength! Go figure.
The bad(?) news is that although I had no distractions like music or the t.v., I'm sure I only focused on my pedal stroke and technique for a minor portion of the time. The duration of time in between my checking my heart rate and cadence was spent reminiscing about Malaysia, coming up with ideas for a career that would take me to warm places cause I realized I'd rather be warm all the time than cold, dreaming about meeting Faris again, and just general future planning. LOL.
One day I will get this focus thing down pat! It was one of my goals for this year and it's obvious it's going to be a challenge. Ah well...if everything were easy - life would be friggin boring!!
Perhaps it's the jet lag, the need for layers of clothes, the fatigue or the fact that my equilibrium seems to be off (jet lag side effect??), but I'm rather grumpy about being home. Sigh...
What can one do in this situation other than plot and plan for another adventure. Next time though I think I'd like to race...time to start surfing the net for early season IM's that are in warm countries!
I did continue my training when I was in Malaysia. I went running the day after the IM around the streets of Kuah. This time I took a different route and follow the road that I had walked back along from the bike turnaround.
As I was running I kept coming up to police barracades. I wasn't sure what they were for, or if I should ask. I did, however, ask if it was ok for me to run through. To which I was met with many smiles and teasing about 'the finish line is that way!' and 'why are you still running? the race is over!'. Oh funny, funny policeman, haha. I didn't bother trying to explain that I had been a cheerleader rather than a participant. If they wanted to believe I could do an IM then run the next day - then who was I to correct them! LOL.
When we went down to Kuala Lumpur I ran in the gym a couple of times. The streets are way to busy to try to run along. Plus the air isn't quite 'fresh'. I managed to get a swim in at the pool as well.
The rest of my training was bascially walking, and walking, and walking. I swear, we walked for hours a day every day. It was nuts, but a great way to explore your surroundings. I wish I had a pedometer to track how far we went. I do know that one day we must have been wandering around for about 6 or 7 hours. Phew!
My one foot took a beating from all this. Actually, more my baby toe. I had blisters upon blisters to the point that it looked like I had a two baby toes. Ew. Greg was teasing me that my foot looked worse than his did after IM. Greeeat. The toe is still in so-so shape. We'll see how running goes tomorrow.
Today was my first full day home so it was time to 'get back in the saddle'...literally. I hadn't been on a bike since I left so was eager to do so, even though my body wasn't sure this was a good idea. That was just the jet lag talking though.
I really want to get better on the bike this season - especially after seeing some amazing athletes (our Greg most especially) at IM Malaysia. So I decided that I need to be a hermit on the bike. No music. No television. No distractions. Just me and hours of focusing on what the bod was doing on the bike. Very exciting, I know! haha.
As I hopped onto the bike I was mighty glad it was attached to a trainer as my head was spinning and if I had been riding on the road I'm sure I would have fallen over a few times. heh heh. (The equilibrium thing again.) I figured I'd go for an hour and a half. See how I felt.
The good news is I had a pretty good workout. I did a 20 min warm up, 60 min steady state bike (at mid/high zone 2 heart rate) and then a 10 min cool down. I felt not too bad - phew! I was pretty worried I'd lost all my bike fitness over the last two weeks. I actually even managed to hold my one legged spinning for a minute with no dead spots in the pedal stroke and with good strength! Go figure.
The bad(?) news is that although I had no distractions like music or the t.v., I'm sure I only focused on my pedal stroke and technique for a minor portion of the time. The duration of time in between my checking my heart rate and cadence was spent reminiscing about Malaysia, coming up with ideas for a career that would take me to warm places cause I realized I'd rather be warm all the time than cold, dreaming about meeting Faris again, and just general future planning. LOL.
One day I will get this focus thing down pat! It was one of my goals for this year and it's obvious it's going to be a challenge. Ah well...if everything were easy - life would be friggin boring!!
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