HIYA KARATE CHOP!!!

Okay, okay, so I forgot to blog yesterday. Sheesh. I'm a busy gal. I'm actually amazed it wasn't until 7pm tonight that my mother called to say 'Where is your post?!' I would have expected her to call last night.

In fact, last Friday Mum called asking where my post was...apparantly she felt I didn't need a rest day. Come to think of it, this almost feels like when I was a little kid and I had to take accordian lessons and I was asked if I practiced. By the way, who the hecks idea was it for me to take accordian lessons anyways?!

I must say, I can understand the need for an update as the parental unit live in another province; therefore, this is a way to keep up with the goings on of their only child, or as I refer to myself, their loving daughter.

So here's the update. Yesterday I managed to bandage up the ongoing festering wound that once was a blister in order for me to get my bike workout in. I had a great workout and am continually impressed with how good I feel after each workout! I was still feeling a bit of muscle fatigue from my ski on Sunday, so opted to do a short core workout titled 'Ab Ripper X'. Now if that title doesn't make you want to workout, I don't know what will. Although the workout was short, the title was apt and I felt the burn!

Today I was back in the pool. After reading some other posts I am thankful that I did not have to put up with hairballs, gack, wet tissue, gag, floating bandaids, spew, or anything of the sort. (My bandaid stayed on thank you very much!)

I did however almost get kicked in the face by one of my bestest friends, Leslie. She is a great swimmer, so I often try to keep up. It's good for me - or so I keep telling myself. I was doing intervals of 50 m drill / 50 m sprints today and on one of my sprints was hell bent on catching up to Les.

I got to the far end of the pool, pushed off, sped ahead and EEEEK! had Leslies feet almost kicking under my chin. BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE!! Turns out she did a 25 m swim, then went into a drill so had slowed considerably. That'll teach me not to sight!

Again I had an amazing workout. I seriously hope this is how the majority of the season goes. I feel so much stronger than I did at the same time last year - it's tres cool. I think part of the reason is having a couple of seasons under my belt now so I'm pushing myself more. Last year was also a major turning point for me in the mind game so I know I can take it both physically and mentally. For some reason I feel like growling now...well, maybe more of a Tim Taylor growl.

Total distance today was 2300 m, in an hour. Oh, I forgot to mention one of the drills - a personal favourite of mine - the one arm swim. For someone who's butt wants to sink down to the bottom of the pool and therefore must flail all limbs in order to stay afloat, I am always amazed that I do so well at this one. I really hope nothing happens to one of my arms, but if it does at least I know I can swim with one arm! Yay!

A shout out to all the peeps giving me tips on how to keep track of laps in the pool - thank you! I'm almost embarassed to say that it's not the long swims that I'm losing track of....I actually lose track doing 100 m. Yes, I'm hanging my head in shame. It's just that I'll be swimming along my merry way and remembering what lap I'm on, then I'll think about my technique and focus on that, and that's long enough for my sieve of a mind to forget where I was. So really, it's possible that I swim an extra 50-100 m each workout. Sigh...

As mentioned above, the festering wound that once was a blister, is still healing. Slowly. Very slowly. The red part is half the size, and it's itchy. I think that means it's healing?! But I still can't put on a shoe with a back, so there was no way I could run tonight. One guess what I did instead?! Yup! I flipped through the old P90X DVDs, which are really paying off, and chose one that I thought would give me some good cardio - Kenpo X.

What's that mean? It means Law of the Fist baby! (This is where I do my Bruce Lee war cry...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH)

Have I mentioned I love martial arts?? It all started when I was a wee lass in Japan watching samarai movies. I then graduated to Bruce Lee movies, which are still my favs. Then I moved on to Jackie Chan. My near brush with fame came when I was a martial arts student and was called to do stunts in a martial arts film. Unfortunately they needed five foot nine of fury, rather than my five foot two of fury. Yes, I'm still bitter. I'm sure I could have done the stunts in stilettos!

But I digress. So I put the DVD in and prepared to be slayed as I had with the plyometrics DVD. However, slayed I was not. This dude has nothing on my former master instructor! All was good though, I punched and kicked for about 50 minutes and realized that my core is way stronger than it was when I was actually in martial arts. Translation: I have more stability when punching and kicking - so I can do those things harder. Very cool.

Look out world, the inner ninja princess has surfaced. HIYA KARATE CHOP!

Peace out my friends!

Remember To Kick!!!

I am proud to say I made it to the pool this morning and had a really good workout! Why am I proud? True, I would have gotten to the pool, but my muscles were tired from yesterday so I could have slacked off, but instead I chose not to.

Not only did I not slack off, but I did 2100 m of endurance today. The majority of that was freestyle, with a few drills thrown in here and there. Oh, and let us not forget 200 m of kicking at the end.

I like to say I'm a lazy triathlete who doesn't kick because I can wear a wetsuit. However, that's not really why I don't kick. I don't kick because I actually forget to. I'm so focused on what my head and arms are doing that every once in a while I think 'Oh! Gotta kick!' and do a few flutter kicks, then go back to forgetting.

Because I had so much freestyle to do I decided to spend some of the time focused on my arms and the rest on my kick. I have no idea if I went faster or slower with this, but I did feel a little more balanced. I also managed to get my workout down in under an hour, which is pretty cool.

It is possible I did more than 2100 m. I have a bad habit of losing count in my laps, and if I do I do the extra to make sure I'm not cheating.

I was hoping to do a run this afternoon, but the pool loosened up my blister skin so now all that's left is just a patch of raw, new, exposed skin. I can sum it up in one word - OW! There will be no wearing of shoes with backs on them for a while. My swim buddy, Andrew, got a good giggle at watching me try to walk in sneakers this morning. Hopefully, by tomorrow I can stand having a patch on it and getting on the bike as the last time it didn't seem to rub or press on it when I pedaled. I really hope this heals soon. I promise I won't go skiing again till it does!

Instead of running tonight, I pulled out a P90X DVD and did the stretching routine. I could feel some tight muscles from the ski, and from swimming this morning, so figured this would be a great alternative. I can't believe I pulled off 50 minutes of stretching!

My idea of stretching is spreading my legs, leaning forward, coming back up, grabbing the top of one foot, pulling my foot to butt, then the next leg, stretch the calf, stretch the other calf and that's it. That quickly too.

The stretches they have are great and do hit all areas. Not to mention you actually hold them long enough to get the stretch in. My only issue with this workout was my beloved cat who wanted to join in...

A note to my feline, Mr. Cringely: When I am doing downward dog, please do not head butt my boobs. It's distracting, not to mention a wee bit ticklish. And giggling is not allowed in stretching. Also, I'd prefer if you didn't walk on and then stand on my hands. I need to move them from time to time and having to flick you off them makes me feel bad. Perhaps you could find another place to lie down, and stay there. Rather than every time I'm hovering above the ground, placing yourself under my body. Then again, this is better than the boob head butt. Lastly, if you are going to stand in front of me while my head is near the floor, I'd prefer if you were facing me, rather than facing away from me. No one wants to see your little onion that close up. I promise. Thank you and I love you little buddy.

Peace out my friends!

Cascade Fire Road Ski...

Just got back from an AMAZING ski day! Xcountry ski day that is. Had a brilliant time with my buddy Trudy on the Cascade Fire Road. It starts at the Lake Minnewanka day area, just north of Banff - in case anyone wants to check it out.

Total trip distance was 29 km. After a short descent from the parking lot there is 22 minute of climb (which leads to much fun on the way back). Not a bad climb, just a steady one. I kept up a steady pace and in my head had a toy soldier theme going on as I thought, 'Trudge, trudge trudge, trudge. Trudge, trudge, trudge, trudge.' It actually kept me in good rhythm.

The next part of the trail is relatively flat with a short downhill that takes you to the first bridge. This area is just gorgeous. Well, the whole trail is gorgeous actually becuase you are in the Cascade Valley surrounded by glorious mountains and trees. Can you say Susi happy place?!

After that section there is a bit more flat then more undulating hills and climbing. Actually there is a lot of climbing on the way in. The turnaround point for us was the second bridge, 14.5 km in.

I felt really strong in my skiing - although I'm pretty sure I'm going to be feeling my back and shoulders tomorrow in the swim. The legs...well, the legs are still feeling the P90X a bit, and the two subsequent bike rides, so they will continue to be fatigued. At some point I will rest them I'm sure.

Trudy gave me a few tips, but said overall my technique wasn't bad. I was pretty stoked about this because I'd been watching peoples skiing and trying to imitate them. I do this with most activities as a way to try and learn. Apparantly I was watching the right people skiing! (Most notably Trudy who kicks butt out there!!)

We stopped at the turnaround point for a quick bite. Trudy took a couple pics of my new IMCDA Finisher bike jacket that I was wearing. I JUST got it!! It's awesome as a ski jacket too.

The way back was much quicker with all the downhill, but I was struggling on some of the flat bits because of the sun/shade affect on the snow. In some areas it was a bit of a slog and in others it was quite slippery. I was kicking it on the downhill though - two pole twice then tuck and go! I loved it.

It took us less time to get back, which was a good thing because the only bummer of the trip was that I could feel my blister again - which I had covered with physio tape, and I could feel a toe on my right foot. Well, a nail really. I find it truly hysterical that I have been in three half Ironman races and two Ironman races and have never had as much trouble with my feet as I have on the last two ski trips! It's crazy. When we got home I took a look and found the tape ripped the skin off the remainging blister, and my toenail is black, so there is the possibility I might lose it. I submit Exhibit A and B for your viewing pleasure.

Huh. Third toe on the right is black...oh and look, I see I have another blister. Will it ever end?!

Have no fear though, I took a ton of 'nice' photos to share with you the view that I had for a good portion of the day. The photos are actually from the turnaround point back. We skiied straight out without stops, but on the way back I took photos. Man I love it out here! Oh, and hopefully this clears your noggin' of the previous two photos.

Peace out my wonderful friends and enjoy the photos!!

The view from the second bridge and turnaround point for us. Trail continues on...

Looking back at where we skiied from.
The snow crystals were HUGE and made it look like wee diamonds were everywhere in the snow.
Plants in the shady areas still had frost on them. It was hard to capture how sparkly they were with the photo.

Heading back over the first bridge - that's Trudy out in front.

Looking west from the bridge. Here's where I pretend I'm Ansel Adams (my favourite photogragpher) and start with the black and white photos.

Looking north at the first bridge.

Almost back to the parking lot now. This is Cascade Mountain.

Hold The Elevator Please!!!

I need an elevator. Yes, an elevator for my two storey house. Wait! If there is a basement, does that mean it's three stories?? It would seem that today, stairs are my mortal enemy.

All I can say is I pray that the cat does not get in front of me in a way that necessitates me having to jump or leap or sidestep the wee guy, cause it's SO not going to happen.

As you may be guessing, my legs and butt muscles are a tad sore today. Not that I'm complaining. Honest! I love this kind of pain because it means I'm working hard. I've had this kind of mentality since I was a kid working at Gold's Gym. I firmly believed the t-shirt I wore with the big, muscular green monster that read 'No Pain, No Gain'.

So I made it through the mega jumping squats and lunges workout last night, and was up bright and early this morning to do my bike workout. In hindsight perhaps I should have left a few more hours between workouts?

I had a sneaking suspicion that this mornings bike workout was a low cadence one, which meant pushing the pedals hard and doing more squats. Sure enough it was. I was impressed this morning with the strength I had and got through the workout fine. The legs were screaming a bit on the squats, but nothing unbearable. I did five sets of the LCS/squat sets, then did a steady pace until the one hour mark.

Everything was fine until a short while later - after I'd been sitting on my butt for a while in my office. I went downstairs not to badly to get a wee snack, but when I tried to walk up the stairs boy could I ever feel every muscle in my quads and butt!

So inadvertantly I have dedicated this month a strength building month. Good thing thats one of my, uhm, er, strengths?? All those years in the gym are paying off. Or at least I hope they will and this pain will be short lived.

I had this afternoon off from training and will rest up tomorrow, with the exception of a swim. I will likely take advantage of the pull buoy and not use my legs much so they recover for the weekend.

Looks like the inner quadzilla in me is coming back!

Peace out my brilliant friends.

P90X...

Well it finally arrived...the P90X workout 'system'. The system has a nutrition plan, workout plan and 12 DVDs. I was mostly interested in the 12 DVDs because I wanted something different for my strength workouts, now that I can actually fit them in this year!

I lovingly brought my package home from the post office, laid it on the counter, sliced through the clear packing tape that held down the flap, flipped the flap open and gazed inside...

This is what I saw...

What I did next is what any self respecting triathlete would do...I ignored the big stop sign warning, tossed the stack of 'read this first' books aside and gently picked up the stack of DVDs. Aaaaah...

I promptly pulled out the DVD that I wanted to start with first...plyometrics. I have no idea why I am so obssessed about doing these, but I am. I think it may give me some sort of edge this year in my races. Of course, I have no scientific proof that this is true.

I ran upstairs, got changed, ran back downstairs, grabbed my yoga mat, moved the cat and the coffee table, put the DVD in and waited with anticipation...

So the dude leading this little trip is a tad dorky. Nice bod though - of course. One of the first things he says as we start warming up is DO NOT EAT AT LEAST 60 MINUTES BEFORE THIS WORKOUT. Hmm, I just ate two rice cakes with peanut butter and banana downed with a cup of chocolate almond milk about half an hour ago. Bah! I'll be fine.

One thing I like about this workout is its done in sets of two. So it keeps things interesting - not that all the jumping squats, jumping side steps, jumping leaps and jumpity jumpy jumping activities wouldn't. Note that there is a lot of jumping stuff in here.

It didn't take long before all this jumping started to help me process my wonderful dinner. Before you knew it I was making some interesting sounds. The top end went first. BRRAAAAAAACCKK! Oh my. Excuse me...

The longer the workout went on, and the more the food was jostled through my intestinal system, and then the bottom half of my body decided to get in on the game. VVVVVVEERRRPPPPP!

Good thing the cat is now deaf or he would have been startled out of his wits. Heck, sometimes I was startled by the noises coming out of me! Add to that my knees were cracking with each squat. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

I was my own one woman band!

The workouts got more intense and I must admit I could not go that low with some of the moves. But hey, this was my first workout so I know I can only get better!

By the end I was pretty pooped, had sweat dripping off me and my legs were feeling it. I think the photo below sums it all up.

This was a darn good workout, with lots of room for improvement. I look forward to scoping out the other DVDs in there...especially the martial arts one that is just calling the name of the ninja princess!

It will be interesting to see how my legs are tomorrow for the bike workout...

Peace out my friends!

Spin, Spin, Spin!!!

I have to admit, I used to think spinning was easy, but now that I've decided not to be a lazy arse on the trainer I have to say....DAMN THAT'S HARD!

I'm not sure what's harder, the low cadence spinning or high cadence spinning without bouncing! Either way I'm pushing my bike skills this year and am loving every bit of it.

Really not much to write about todays workout. I did a sets of four, then two, then four 0:20 sec spin / 1:40 recovery with some 'easy' recovery sets in between. I made sure I didn't wuss out on the recovery either and by my second set of 0:20 second intervals I was full on sweating. Wait, I'm a girl...I glisten. Profusely.

The workout was to end at 0:44 minutes with a cooldown, but i decided to push it to an hour. I cranked the gearing up a bit and just did a steady ride. My legs were feeling it after, but they were very happy at the work.

Too bad the remnants of my blister aren't happy. Stupid thing is really sore. I think it's the combination of my run last night and my bike this morning wearing only a bandaid on it. There is no liquid in it anymore, it's just doing it's healing thing, but it really friggin hurts. And has a pulse. And is warm. But it's not ooozy yet, so I take that as a good sign and will fix it before it gets there. I promise. In fact, I'm going out right after I type this in order to buy the Moleskin pads that many people, including my beloved parental unit, have insisted I purchase. No need to tell me more than four times! I think I finally get that I need them...

Peace out my lovely friends!

Balance...

It is almost fitting that the biggest goal of my year is to continue finding balance in life...and my second swim of the year was titled 'Balance 1900 m'.

I managed to zip through my warm up of 100m swim/100 m kick/ 100 m swim/ 100 m kick. Nothing too exciting there. Oh, except for the fact that I managed to whiz past the older gal in the snorkel and fins. Phew!

Next up were 3 sets of balance work and swim. It was broken up into 50 m segments. In other words, 50 m kick / 50 m swim. 50 m 6 count side kick / 50 m swim. 50 m one side kick / 50 m swim. Then the pièce de résistance.... 50 m side kick NO ARMS / 50 m swim.

So lets start off with the 50 m side kick no arms. Seriously??? Once again this is some coaches way of trying to drown a triathlete. I foiled thiee plan though and somehow managed to stay afloat AND avoided drinking copious amounts of water. While on each side my butt and hip wanted to drag along the bottom of the pool, but I kicked harder so I would keep moving. Picture how a dog swims with just a portion of their head above water...but on their side...and you will know how I was swimming this set. Hmmm, can't remember if I passed the snorkel/fin gal whilst doing this or not....

My 50 m swim intervals rocked, if I do say so myself. I am really focussing on my technique now and boy did I feel it! My upper back and shoulders were working hard right from the get go. I felt a lot faster as well. By the end of all the sets (I also had 4 x 50 m at the end, then a 200 m cooldown) I felt as though I was slowing down a bit, but I fought to keep my technique of really catching and pushing the water away. The trick now will be to keep that up for 3.8 kilometers. All in good time though.

After work I got an hour run in. I felt a bit sluggish which may have been due partly because of the skiing and strength bike workout on the weekend. Still, it seemed to go quite quickly and I managed to ignore the slurpie headache I got from the cold. No, I was not wearing a toque...just ear warmers. Yes, I expect a comment from the parental unit on this. Oh, just to score points with the parental unit I DID run with my yellow safety vest. So there.

And so the amazing training continues!!

Peace out my friends.

The Blister and The Bike...

Last night before bed I carefully removed the band-aid that, earlier during my ski fun, I had placed on what was left of a blister. What I found was somewhat frightening...a blister that had formed with the flesh that had been remaining from the previous blister. Yipe.

I also noticed that the flesh that had been the original blister peeled away with the band-aid. Ew. The new blister must have formed on the ski back to the lodge. It now had some liquid and was the size of a quarter, as illustrated below. (No comments on how rough my heels are please...these are the heels of a mighty triathlete, not a beauty queen!)

The trick now would be to figure out how to cover that up so I could do my bike workout in the morning - especially because I don't wear socks in my bike shoes.

By the time I woke up this morning I had a semi plan for tackeling the blister issue. I just need to search for a band-aid big enough to cover it! Easy schmeasy. The search turned up a sterile pad I could use...but no steri strips to put it on with. Hmmm. Faced with such a dilemma, I requested the gerbil in my brain get off his hookah pillows and hop onto his treadmill in order to start working out option.

After only moments on the treadmill, the gerbil - brilliant that he is, shouted out 'DUCT TAPE!' Excellent....now where did I put the duct tape?? Unfortunately, I couldn't find it, so I used the next best thing - clear packing tape. My handy work is illustrated below.

It was a bit tricky putting my bike shoes on, but everything seemed to work out just fine. Now the big test, was I going to feel the blister with every pedal stroke???

Thankfully the answer to that question was no. All that was left to do now was to start pedaling!

Todays bike plan was another low cadence workout. After a 23 minute warm up I got right into the LC sets - five sets in total. Each set contained four minutes of pedaling at 70 rpm (using a hard gear to make it 70 rpm of course), then two minutes of squats.

The squats were done by placing an exercise ball against the wall, behind my back, and rolling down until I was in a seated position and my thighs were parallel to the ground . Then I'd hold it there for two seconds, then come back up again and with no rest at the top I'd get back down into that seated position.

The first 55 seconds of squats always went well, then the burn would kick in. There was a lot of mumbling and very big exhales as I continued in the sets. I tried to keep things interesting by changing the position of my feet for each set. This would work a different quad muscle each time.

Once my sets were done I continued on with 37 minutes of steady pedaling. The total workout time was 1.5 hours.

The workout itself was great. I felt like I had a lot of strength and because of the sets and switching things up the workout also went by quickly.

As for the blister, my clear tape system worked just fine. I could tell it was coming off my skin the more I would sweat, but my shoe was snug enough that it held the pad in place. The only time it hurt was when I had to walk from my bike to do the squats.

Of course all that sweating made the blister even bigger, so I had to do the dasterdly deed of popping it. Have no fear, only sterile appliances were used for such an operation.

Here's hoping it will heal up quickly because I have a run tomorrow evening. Oh, I just thought of another thing...hopefully the wee puncture hole will heal up before my swim tomorrow too because we all know how clean pools are!! All together now 'EWWWWWWWWW!!!'

Peace out my lovely friends.

The Ski Lioness...

What a great day to go xcountry skiing! After being in a deep freeze for too long, the chinook finally blew into town. Actually, the winds REALLY blew last night, so driving on the TransCanada was a little dicey in spots because of all the snow that blew onto the roads.

I headed out to Pocaterra ski area in Peter Lougheed Park with my wonderful, amazing friends (and adopted family) Esther and David. David and I are back into training mode so we were substituting a ski for a run today.

After a brief stop at the lodge we put our skis on and headed out. But not before saying hellos and giving hugs to uber triathletes Katie, Shannon, Chris and Jill, who were also out for a ski. There was a pretty good sized group of JackRabbits (young skiers ~6-7 years old) that had just headed out on the trail. I really hoped that I could pass them and they wouldn't out ski me. My fitness ego is rather fragile these days!!

Thankfully, we got past them and made our way to the Pocaterra trail. I've skied part of this trail before but today we were going to go a little bit farther.

Before we really got going with the skiing we had to stop for some photo ops - of course. Here are David and Esther!


Here's yours truly in her new Christmas prezzie from the parental unit. The toque was the HIT of the trails. I had a ton of people ski by saying 'love the toque!'. I knew Mum would be happy with that. The best was this little girl back at the lodge who said 'I like the lion on your head!'. Too cute. I was somewhat surprised to note that I was the only one on the trails with a fun toque - what's up with that?!

The trail itself was in great shape. The first part was mostly flat, but then we started to do more climbing. Every once in a while I'd stop to take a picture or two.



It felt great being out there today. Every once in while we'd be in an area where the wind would rip through the trees and blow all the snow. It was hilarious because there were big soft balls of snow falling off the trees so it felt like the trees were playing with us and throwing snowballs! As all the snow came down I couldn't help but laugh as we tried to ski through it.

I decided that today I would try to work on my ski form. I realized I wasn't extending my arms enough and not going through a full range of motion. I was also working on my weight transfer. I am hoping to see my friend Trudy, who is an amazing skier, in a couple of weeks and will ask her for some hints and tips how to improve things. Sometimes everything feels smooth, and other times it's a bit awkward and choppy.

Part way along our skiing I had felt a 'hot spot' on my heel. I stopped and did my boots up tighter, but by then it was too late. I tried to ignore what felt like skin pulling from my heel for as long as I could. David was in front so I yelled to him asking if he had a bandaid - I figured I'd had a whopper of a blister going.

We pulled over at this one area where the trees broke up. We were met with an unbelievable view - of which I took photos of course!

I took my shoe and sock off to inspect the damage. It was bigger than I thought. A blister the size of half a toonie had ripped open on my heel. Ow. I managed to find some bandaids and put them on. We'd skied about an hour by then and decided to head back. I was bummed about having to turn around, but I was past the 'grin and bear it' stage of the blister. Thankfully, Esther and David said they were ready to go back then anyways. Phew!

Blister or no though we had a great ski back to the lodge. All the uphill we climbed was now downhill and we zipped along. I really worked on extending my arms, digging in and pushing my poles. The bliss of being out there took some of the pain of my foot away.

We all had big smiles on our faces when we got back. The ski may not have been as long as I had hoped it would, but I got to see some new trail and have plans to come back and finish up that ski trail! Not to mention I was out in Mother Nature with two of my closest friends - you can't get much better than that!

Peace out my friends!

Muscles? What Muscles???

I have been reminded that I possess certain muscle groups called triceps and quadriceps. It is quite apparent that they have not been used to the fullest extent in the last little while because I can really feel them today after one swim and two bike workouts. Yeowza!

Thankfully it isn’t an excruciating pain, just a ‘Hello. Thank you for using us again pain. Here’s just a little bit of payback for ignoring us the last few months.’

It took me a bit today to feel my triceps, but I felt my quads as soon as I tried to walk downstairs. My vastus medialis to be exact. (Yes, I did have to look that up!) "Oh hello there Mr. Vastus Medialis. Thank you for stopping in and reminding me that I haven't been working out much. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would get used to what is going on quickly so that I am able to walk up and down the stairs without such discomfort."

This may take a while to happen because although my quads were a wee bit sore, I did a low cadence workout on my bike today. Just to spice the old bike workout up a bit, I threw in some sets of squats.

In all honesty, it was a great workout and I felt strong throughout. I did a 15 minute warmup, then started in on the sets. Three minutes of low cadence work, one minute of ball squats, and one minute easy. All of this four times.

Throwing ball squats in the workout really broke things up and added an extra little challenge. Surprisingly, my legs didn't feel tired at the end...until I tried to walk back up the stairs out of the dungeon and up to the top floor.

At some point during the day I thought, hmmmm, what is that strange feeling in the back of my arms. OH! Triceps! Right. Forgot all about you guys. Guess I really was pushing the water yesterday. Excellent.

I take this little bit of soreness as a good sign. I'm putting effort into my workouts and my body is feeling it. Progress is being made. Soon enough I will be back in fighting form. Nothing can stop me now!!!

Well, except for the rest day that I have tomorrow, which I am going to take and I make no apologies for it!

Peace out my friends!

Surpises...

I was up bright and early to hit the local pool today. Oh how thankful I was I could just get up and go and not have to worry about wearing my swim clothes, packing my work clothes - don't forget the undies and bra!, pack my breakfast, pack my lunch etc. Instead I was just able to walk out the door with the essentials. Trust me, I give thanks everyday to be able to live this new lifestyle of mine!

I found an old training plan of mine from a couple of years ago. There were some really great swim workouts on there so I decided to do them in order and chose the first one. Gulp. My eyes grew slightly large as I read 'Endurance Swim, 1600m'. Holy hannah when was the last time I swam 1600 m?!

As the most I had swum in the last bit was 15 minutes worth, I really wasn't sure how I'd feel in this swim. I was more than willing to give it a go though! My last few workouts have really gotten me in the groove of training and I feel great.

I slipped into the water and started my warm up - 100 m swim/100 m kick/100m swim/100 m kick. My swim felt comfortable and my kick felt like crap. Aaaah. Just like old times!

As I was coming back during one kicking set I noticed someone at the end of the pool. Hmmm. Wonder if that's one of my fellow townie tri-geeks? My goggles are a wee bit cloudy and the person had their cap and goggles on already so I couldn't tell. My name is on my pull buoy though so I figured if they knew me they'd see that and say hi.

The next time lap of kicking I saw the person touching my pile of stuff at the pool edge. Hmmm. What this all about? Perhaps they were reading my swim program that was stuck to my water bottle? I should add I was willing to take them out if they tried to make of with my program or pull buoy! As I got to the pool edge I took off my goggles to see who this person was. I was tickled pink when I saw it was my amazing friend Leslie. YAY! What an awesome surprise!

Turns out she is going to be swimming on Monday and Wednesday mornings as well. I love that she will be there because she is one of the most kick butt swimmers I know. Already today she has given me a pointer that I'll be working on. So cool.

After a brief chat with Leslie I started the main workout. This consisted of sets of various lengths at a moderate and fast pace. For the most part I felt pretty strong, but part way through one of the fast 100 m sets I was thinking, ow, I can feel my shoulders. Need air. Not getting enough air in. So not doing flipturns in this set or I'll drown! How did I ever swim 4000 m last year?? Do not panic. Your race is many months away and you will be able to swim the distance by that time! Breath dammit, breath!

There was some gasping at sputtering at the end of the set, but at the same time I was smiling because I was gettin' er done.

I was surprised again when I finished the workout. I swam 1600 m and it felt not too bad! How cool that I swam that far for my first real swim workout?! This is a very good start to the year. My swim goal this year is to better my technique so I can swim faster! Kind of a given for most triathletes I think.

I also got a run in this evening. About the half hour mark I realized I hadn't had enough food today because things started looking a little woozy. Eeep. Rather than endure the first bonk of the season, I stopped in at Esthers, my other amazing friend. I gratefully endured the giggling at my situation in trade for some sustenance to keep me going. Phew.

Another great training day. Here's hoping this year is made up mainly of these types of days!

Peace out my wonderful friends.

Just Call Me Hef...

Ah yes...there is nothing like waking up, strolling downstairs leisurely to sit down for a nice, hot, well balanced breakfast, then strolling back upstairs and starting your days work - all in the comfort of your fuzzy warm flannel pj's.

At the end of my workday I changed into my bike clothes and headed for the dungeon. My workout tonight was a short one, just under an hour and involved spin intervals.

I did a ten minute warmup, then five minutes comprising of 30 seconds standing and 30 seconds recovery. I gotta tell ya, I'm still feeling my quads from this one. As I was standing I tried to make sure that there was no bounce and that my pedal stroke was smooth. This meant using a lot of muscle and control. I'm proud to say that no obsenities passed my lips during this exercise...although there were a couple of fffffffff sounds before I restrained myself and reminded myself how strong this will make me.

The remainder of the bike workout consisted of spin work. I did sets of 20 seconds high spin (no bounce) and 1:40 min of recovery. One would think this would be relatively easy. In comparison to some workouts it was, but I was still sweating at the end of it. My legs were feeling it as well. That may be due in part to the fact that I was working the recovery spins, not just lazily spinning my legs around.

I felt really good about this workout. I love it when I can feel my muscles working - it's such a rush! I'm really stoked about my bike work this year as I want to build on what I developed last year. One day I will be ready for Lanzarote!

After my workout I went upstairs, showered and put on a fresh set of warm fuzzy flannel pj's. Good thing I have many sets!

Yup, you can call me after the pj'd man himself, Hef. Not that we have anything in common other than our love of being in pj's all day. Afterall, there's only one blonde bunny in this mansion!

Peace out my bunny friends!

Layer Up!!!

Let the show begin...I'm back into training and loving it! On Saturday I had a brilliant run with Leslie. The scenery along the river was breathtaking - all the trees were covered in an shining white frost. It was a bit chilly out though and when we ran into an area that was in the shade certain bits that I possess started to freeze...

When it's cold out the three areas on me that freeze first are the three areas that stick out the most - my butt, boobs and nose! Mental note: next run make sure they are covered better!

On Sunday I was on the trainer...not much to say about that. I got on my bike. I spun my legs. I looked at the walls. Truthfully though, it wasn't a bad workout! I did some various intervals to keep things interesting.

My first official day as a working-from-home-entrepeneur was spent downtown at one of my clients office. Slightly ironic, I know. It was all good though as I get to work with some truly great people. However, working downtown meant I had to do my short run in the dark and cold evening, rather than the warmish sunny day. At least I think it was sunny today...I was in the deep dark back boardroom for most of it.

It was a bit chilly when I got home and I wasn't sure how much more the temperature would drop, even though it was warmer today than it has been in a long time. I decided not to risk a reoccurance of Sunday and layer up!

The layers...jog bra, long sleeve shirt, long sleeve fleece sweater, wind breaker and glow in the dark safety vest. (Musn't forget the bright yellow reflective safety vest that Mum gave me! Cause you know the day I do forget to wear it, is the day I get bumped off by a car or truck!! It's just like when I was a kid and she'd say to wear my coat because it was cold, and I didn't cause I was too cool, and then I'd freeze...) But I digress. On the legs were a pair of shorts covered by my double layered winter gortex front leggings, and socks. This ensemble was topped off with ear covers and my purple dragon toque. (That would be a hat for anyone reading this outside of Canada.)

I LOVE my dragon toque - it doubles as a puppet and has googly eyes and everything! As the eyes face back I always say that Monty (the name of my dragon) watches my back. So very cool.

I didn't end up covering my schnoz, although as I was running I did remember that somewhere in my house I have a red clowns nose that may come in handy on the colder days! Can you imagine the sight of that?!

Overall, the run went quite well. As I was running from my house down the bonus hill I was glad for my neon yellow vest as there was a ton of traffic coming towards me. No one seemed to want to move over either, so I started to wonder if my vest really was reflective and whether or not I'd have to dive into a snow pile to avoid being hit! I kept a good eye on all the cars.

Shortly thereafter, I discovered that the vest was visible because when I got to the road crossing two cars that were going to turn, and therefore intersect in front of me as I crossed the road, stopped. Problem was I stopped too because I couldn't make eye contact (it was dark out) so I didn't know if it was ok to go! We finally all worked it out okay.

As I ran in one of the neighborhoods I was met with a dog...that barked at me. BARKED AT ME! I'm the person who adores all creatures great and small dammit! Especially the cute, furry, fourlegged ones! How dare he bark at me?!

I actually sensed that he wasn't a super friendly dog (the kids walking it had let go of the leash so he was wandering in front of them, then approached me barking) so I stopped running. Likely a good move. He didn't stay interested in me for too long though as he caught a scent, went past me and stuck his nose in a snow drift...must have smelt the scent of Eau d'Yellow Snow!

On the way back I had the pleasure of witnessing the sky turn a most stunning, awe-inspiring colour. Or rather, colours. It was a deep dark azure that blended into a midnight blue, then went to black. Not to mention the stars and moon that were dabbled in there. I made sure I made a wish on the first star I saw tonight too! Can't tell you what it is though or that will break the wish...

I focused on the brilliant sky as I huffed and puffed back up the bonus hill. I learned quickly that it is harder to run uphill in the snow rather than downhill! Who knew?! Throw in the headwind that I had and I felt as though someone was trying to push me backwards! It was great resistance training for the end of my run.

It feels oh so good to be back training!

Peace out my glorious friends.

The New Year...

Rather than set resolutions for the new year, I prefer to reflect on the passing year and see what I've learned. Then I take those learnings and adjust things in life to ensure I'm leading the best possible lifestyle for me.

The biggest lesson of last year was living in the present moment. This one little task changed my life profoundly. It enabled me to have the best race ever, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, and it helped me better cope with some of lifes more difficult times, such as losing my furry friend Milo and my car accident. In general I feel much more calm about life - it's a glorious feeling after spending the former 37 years having a gerbil on a treadmill in my brain! (He's still there by the way, but he's now under control.)

The second biggest lesson I learned was that I need to work more on having a balanced lifestyle. In the first half of 2006 I found that all I did was train, commute, work, eat and sleep. My fitness was at it's peak during this time, but I didn't have balance in that I had no social life and I felt I had no time for other activities.

The latter half of last year was the opposite. I was focussed on courses I was taking, investigating, then grabbing, the opportunity to start my own business, organizing a fundraiser for a friend, and dealing with a car accident. What all this meant was I was too busy and too tired to workout regularly. I also lost control of my eating. The end result, I am 15lbs overweight and I feel as if I've taken a step back in my fitness.

I'm not complaining at all about this though. This is how we learn. When things aren't how you want them to be you take a step back, analyze it, and see what can be done to improve it. So that's what I've done.

The biggest change for me this year is that starting January 1 I became my own company. I can now work from my home the majority of time, which means no commuting and a gain of 12 hours a week! I'm so stoked about that. This will allow me time to work, train, socialize and have some down time. In other words, better balance in life.

So with all this time and a focus on better life balance I have realized there are some lifestyle changes that I hope will occur:

• Better eating habits - for the most part I eat well, but I just eat too much!
• Time for meditation - the times that I have meditated I always feel refreshed and stronger mentally after.
• Swim, bike and run, and other things - I would like to spice up my training more this year and add in more cross country skiing, mountain biking and trail running as well as other workouts using the P90X DVDs.
• Maintain my fitness in the off season - this one will have to wait as I have 11 months of training ahead of me. I am going to really focus on continuing with my training after my races though.

I am truly excited for this new year. It will be a continuation of the positive changes made last year and it will be full of new learning experiences that will enable me to grow in future. For that I say 'HOOOYAAAAH!!'.

Peace out my lovely friends!

The Gym Rats...

Yesterday my Pop walked in the front door, after having been at the gym, and stated the following, 'They gave me shite for not bringing you to the gym today, so you are coming with me tomorrow!'

I assume the 'they' in that statement were his cronies from the gym. I thought that was quite sweet so accpeted the invitation to go.

So today I went to the gym.

My plan for the workout was to do four sets of 20 for each bodypart. Considering I haven't been in the gym, but for the one workout last week, perhaps this wasn't the wisest of workouts, but I stuck with it.

I actually didn't feel too bad. I did some leg press, extensions, curls, pushups (not 4 x 20), bicep curls, and pulldowns. I did attempt some lunges today, but again my hammies would have nothing to do with them. I think I'll have to build those up slowly.

In between a couple of sets, the cronies and I hung out at the leg extension machine and discussed how icy the roads were this morning. I swear, I felt like a retired 68 year old man hanging out with his buds!

After doing weights we headed to the pool. My swim today was much better. I find it amazing how quickly the body can remember how to do something. Last week my swimming was ok, but I could tell I didn't have the endurance in me. Today, however, I was able to go and go, at least until Dad told me it was time to get out of the water. For a split second I was once again a little girl swimming at the beach.

We met the 'gym gang' at the mall for a tea/coffee and chat. There were seven of us there. Two of the fellows even came for coffee on their 'off' gym day just so they could see me. To say I was flattered is an understatement! Todays topics were snow removal, the icy roads, my new company, overhead powerlines, and excavation. Oh, and I got to meet the Les who just had his leg removed because of diabetes AND his wife who is allegedly trying to kill him with her Hungarian non-diabetic friendly food. She left us with him while she shopped. Really, I thought she was quite nice and not the type to try to off her hubby.

I had such a blast today with the boys. I look forward to coming back here in the new year and meeting up with them for a workout and tea/coffee again!

Damn, I feel like I need a nap again.

Peace out my friends, I wish you all a year filled with peace, love and happiness in 2009!

A Run In Pictures...

I borrowed me Mum's teeny camera to take with me for my run. I must say, it's hard to keep the camera from moving when you first stop running to take the shot! The little shaky symbol kept showing up and it kept asking me if I wanted to save the picture. Ah well. Some of the photos may be a wee bit blurry, but I hope you enjoy the new path I found!

The snowy path I followed in the trees.

The canopy of trees to run under.

The lookout point.

The run behind the townhouses.

The mighty Fraser River! Including the new bridge they are building in the Pitt.

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of my new running path! It's getting soggier by the day so I think I'll be reduced to running on the road for a bit. Oh well.

Peace out my friends!

A New Path...

I wasn't sure how today's run was going to go. There was a lot of rain yesterday so that cleared some of the snow from the streets, but also compacted the snow in areas that hadn't been plowed or shovelled.

The grippy thingys for my shoes work well in ice and snow, but aren't very comfortable on bare pavement - for obvious reasons. The little spikes are grouped just behind the toes and on the heel. So when my foot strikes I have this little 2x1 inch patch of spikes that hits the pavement and nothing else. My plantar fascia was feeling it the other day when I had to run on bare pavement for a while, so I was trying to figure out where I could go today that was either almost all snow/ice or bare pavement.

Snow/ice won out. I didn't want to run on the roads because they were narrow from the snow piles around driveways and, well, who wants to run on the road?! I decided I'd run back towards the river, try and find the road I ended up on last time, and run along the dike.

The first part of my run I stayed in the snow banks along the road - what little pavement running I did was pulling on my plantar fascia due to the spikey thingys so I thought it best just to stay in the snow as much as I could. At times I felt like a short, squat deer trying to lift my feet high enough to take a running step! It was less than graceful, but I got the job done.

The snow was pretty compact, once you took a step in the deep top layer, and had the consistency of the hard ice slush that is leftover on the bottom of your slurpee after you suck all the grape/orange/lime soda out. (I like layering my flavours...) My ankles and stabilizers were getting a heck of a workout in the deep snow!

After meandering somewhat lost through the neighborhood I finally found the road I needed to get to the dike pathway. More running on pavement, urgh, until I hit the path, then it was snow, snow and more snow!

Running along the dike is quite nice because on one side you have this row of trees which you can peek through and see the mighty Fraser river. On the other side are farmers fields, which in the summer is quite nice. Now, however, it is just one big blanket of white stuff.

I was getting glimpses of the river through the trees and wondered if I could get down there. I didn't see a break in the trees and wasn't sure what was beneath the snow so figured I'd stick to the path. Then I spotted it - a sign that had the universal symbol for a lookout point! Well now, what is this?!

I hoped off the dike pathway and onto a very narrow trail. I quickly found myself in amongst the trees and heading toward the river. It didn't take me long to get to the river, which was iced up and covered in snow. The sun was just starting to peak through the clouds, which made the entire scene rather picturesque.

I then noticed that the trail I had followed to the lookout point actually went off in the left and right direction. Hmmm... I think I need to follow this trail and see where it goes!

I headed right. I ran and ran until the trail took me back up to the dike pathway. Then I spotted the map. It showed me that the path I just came off of would take me right back to the street that would take me all the way back to the parental units! I could avoid more pavement AND stay in the trees. How cool was this?!

I turned around and headed back on the wee pathway in the direction I'd come from. It was glorious in there. The pathway was lined with evergreens whose branches and leaves formed a canopy along the trail. I could see no sign of civilization so I could pretend I was the might running explorer!

As I ran I could hear the ravens cawing to each other as they hid in the trees, along with the little chipmunks that were merrily chatting with each other. A train was rumbling along on the other side of the river and would blow it's horn every once in a while. The only other sounds I could hear were my feet crunching along the snow and the 'swish-swish' my braids were making on my jacket.

I think I found a little piece of heaven there!

I continued along my merry way. My grippy shoe thingys were working wonders. My ankles were working hard trying not to roll, but I wasn't slipping anywhere. Eventually I was out of the trees and running in behind some townhouses. What a view they have of the river! The path finally ended at the road.

I decided for the last part of my run to take off my grippy thingys and just run in my shoes. The road was wet here but not too slippery. It was actually very ackward running on the pavement with just my sneakers! I had been using so many stabilizing muscles that when I had to run 'normally' they didn't know what to do! I almost felt as if I couldn't get my balance, which is rather ironic.

Knock on wood I made it home safe and sound without slipping on some of the ice I encountered on our road.

What a great run - I can't wait to go back in there. Next time I might even carry my camera along so I can take some photos!!

Peace out my lovely friends.

Father-Daughter Time...

Our second attempt to go to the gym was much more successful this time. All that shovelling of the snow off the driveway worked and we made it out to the road without getting stuck!

On the way to the gym we chit chatted about building bridges and cars. You know, the usual father-daughter stuff. (Yesterday it was theorizing the Whistler Gondola failure mechanisms...)

My Dad has been going to this gym, at least three times a week, for over 20 years now. I'm pretty sure they haven't changed the decor since that time, but they have everything you need and that's all that matters.

First things first, I was introduced to Dad's workout buddies. I believe the oldest fellow is about 79 years old. They are pretty serious about their work outs and spend just the minimal amount of time chatting. That's saved for later.

I figured I'd do a light total body workout then hit the pool for a swim. I started out with a five minute bike spin to warm up my legs. Next up were lunges using the Bosu ball. I LOVE the bosu ball. Turns any exercise into a stability workout.

I did well for the first 10 lunges, then I felt my left hamstring pull. Ow. Nuts, I hate when that happens. Needless to say, I pressed on. I got to 12 reps and zap! my right hamstring went. Mother Trucker! I rested for a short moment then tried to do another set. The searing pain I felt told me that that was all the lunges this gal was going to do for today. I get this sometimes when I do lunges or squats. Or rather it happens when I've had a long hiatus from weights. I don't worry about it. The next time I do it I know everything will be fine - provided I don't wait for 3 months before the next set!

I elected to do some leg extensions and leg press next. These worked out just fine so at least I got a little bit of a leg workout in. I did a few upper body exercises then Dad and I headed for the pool.

That's one cool thing about this place, it may be old but they have an indoor pool and it isn't busy. I was a little lost by the fact that there were no lane ropes... just the black lane paint. What's the protocol in here?!

I figured I was supposed to swim between the black lines, so I did. It's amazing how lost one can be when there aren't little ropes to guide one along. I swam a few laps and was happy I wasn't completely out of breath. My form was less than desirable though.

I got to the one end and rather than attempting a flip turn I reached up to grab the edge so I could turn. There was only one problem...there was no edge. So basically I put my hand up, reached a little higher, felt nothing and promptly sunk. Glub! I came up for a gasp of air and awkwardly kicked my legs till I was turned around. Rats, I was going to have to practice my flipturns again.

I got to the other end and stopped to say something to Dad, this is when I was informed that I was to swim directly over the black line. 'See, it's posted on the sign on the wall,' he said pointing. I looked to where he was pointing. Oh, that sign up there that is paper encased in plastic that is all bubbled and warped so the text is illegible? Yup, I can see that...

I just took his word for it and started swimming over the line. I realized I needed to focus on my technique and worry not about speed. Not that I was actually worrying about speed, of course. I got to the end and did an awkward flip - at least I ended up pointing in the right direction even if it was just my tippy toes pushing off from the wall.

This went on for a bit of time. In between swimming laps I did a few drills to remind myself how to do a proper catch and such. During one of these drills I found myself staring at the bottom of pool. This can be a scary thing at times. There are icky things that lurk on the bottom of a pool. I was thankful I didn't see any hair balls or snot stringers lurking around, just one lonely hair band lay at the bottom of the pool. Phew.

One curiousity was that at the corners of the pool it looked like rust. Hmm...what is rusting down there? Of all the laps I did I never did figure it out so it will remain a mystery.

I was slowly reaquainting myself with the flipturn technique. I was feeling pretty good with them and managing to make it closer to the edge of the pool each time. Of course that meant I wasn't paying close attention to my breathing so eventually the inevitable happened...a brain enema. UGH.

I thought I had got enough air in to keep blowing as I flipped, but mid turn the realization that I was out of air and still flipping hit me like chinese water torture. AAAAGH. As I came out of the turn and pushed off the wall the burn going through my nose and sinuses gradually became more pronounced. Ow, ow, ow.

You'd think that would teach me to keep blowing in the turn, but nope. Not this gal. I did it again the next turn. I'm happy to say my sinuses are nice and clear now.

By the end of my swim I felt pretty good - sinuses aside. I felt like I could swim again. Now it'll just be a matter of slowly building up the endurance...then maybe getting a bit more speed. Lots of time for that to happen.

After our workout, Dad and I met his buds at the mall for a tea. This is what they do after their workouts. Sit and chat. Today's topics were boxing, martial arts and one of the guys they work out with. Apparantly he has diabetes and a kidney issue that requires dialysis. His diabetes just required the amputation of his leg. They were joking that this guys wife was trying to kill him slowly as she feeds him food that isn't quite diabetes friendly. He also has a funny way of looking at dialysis - apprantly he figures it's like an internal flush that gives him fresh start to have beers and whatnot. Personally, I thought this was hilarious.

I had a blast hanging with my Dad today and got a glimpse of what retired life is like. I've seen my future and I think I'm going to like it! Of course, I've got another 30 years before that can happen. Sigh.

I think it's time for a nap now...

Peace out my friends!

The Christmas Run...

My pre-run warm up consisted of shovelling snow...again. We did our driveway and the neighbors. There wasn't a lot that fell overnight so it wasn't too bad. I am reminded of how wet the snow is out here by the weight of it! Holy hannah it's heavy! At this rate my biceps are going to be like Ahnolds! Definitely a good core workout as well.

If I forgot to use good form in moving all the snow, my mother was right there to remind me! 'Watch your back! Bend your knees!' It was hilarious. All excellent family bonding though!

As you can see by the picture below, we got a LOT of snow out here. The piles that were created from all the shovelling were almost as tall as I am. Also illustrated in the picture is my wonderful new lion toque, which I got as a stocking stuffer from the Parental Unit. Oh, I mean, uh, Santa... Proof that my parents/Santa are as wacky as I am. Or rather, I have inherited their wackiness and love of fun toques!

In order to be able to run in all this white stuff, I purchased some "high tech" gadgets called 'Stabil-icers' from MEC before I left for BC. I thought they'd be great for here and for back home so I wouldn't slip-slide all over the place. They are pretty straight forward actually. Rubber thingys that stretch over the bottom of your shoe with metal bits that stick into the snow or ice. At least that's my engineering description of them.

The toughest thing about these suckers were slipping them on my shoe. At one point I managed to 'sling shot' my shoe up towards my face as I tried to stretch the rubber over the sole. Whoops! Dad was ready to step in at that point, but I assured him I could figure it out... The next attempt I made sure i had my head tilted out of the way in case of flying shoe. See. Told ya I could do it!

Once outside I was in fine form. The parental units street was covered in packed snow from all the cars so they worked great there. I wasn't slipping or sliding anywhere!

They weren't as fun once I got onto the bare pavement though. The sound the metal spikes made on the pavement was like fingernails going down a chalkboard for me. The fillings in my teeth were vibrating! Gack. Therefore, I stayed on slushy bits and snow as much as I could.

Actually, this wasn't a difficult task. Although some of the 'busier' roads I was running on were bare with slush, most of my route was either packed snow or snow higher than my knees. I like to think of today's run as interval training!

I wasn't exactly sure where I was running to, but I started out on the roads near the house. I ended up on another road that seemed to actually go somewhere, rather than winding around the neighborhood. I met up with a fellow who commented that I didn't look like I was sliding too much. That's when I showed him my nifty new gadgets. We chatted for a short while, then I asked him where the road went. He said it met up with Hammond Rd. Hmmm...Hammond Rd. That sounds familiar.

Running around here is always an adventure for me. My parents moved to Pitt Meadows long after I had moved out of the house - I grew up in North Vancouver. So although they've been here for a while, and I've visted many times, I really don't know the area very well.

It was super warm out, by my standards, so I figured it'd be fun to keep running in this direction and see where Hammond Road was.

For a good portion of this section I was on slushy bare road. I was dying to get on some snow so I wouldn't have to deal with the chalkboard squeak.

Finally I was near houses again and got onto the sidewalk that had shovelled bits and not shovelled bits. This is where my interval training came in. On some sections I was running through snow that was at least two inches higher than my knees. I had to really lift my legs to keep moving. Then I came to packed snow so I could run 'normally'.

When I got to Hammond Rd I realized where I was and headed right. The trees along this road are amazing. They are evergreens and some of them are at least the height of a 6 storey building! I got to run under the limbs that were bowed by the snow and wondered if I'd have a dump of snow fall on me.

I was having a blast out there. It was so incredibly warm! Well, warm for someone that just spent the last two weeks in weather that 'feels like' minus a kagillion! I swear, I could have run in shorts and a t-shirt and been comfortable.

Instead of turning right when I got to the road that I know we turn down for the parental units, I decided to keep going straight. I remembered that there was another road I could run down that would take me to a pathway that would get me back to the cul-de-sac. At least I was pretty sure this was the case. Worst case scenario I could retrace my steps back!

The road, that I thought led me back to the parental unit, was bliss to run on. It was hard packed snow and my 'Stabil-icers' were working brilliantly. As I ran along I came across a set of stairs. Hmmm, now does this take me back or do I run straight.... For some reason I could remember going either way and having it work. I decided to go for the stairs.

They were covered in snow too and I was about to grab the nice cold metal handrail with my warm sweaty hand...but then thought there may be the possibility of getting stuck there. So instead I just walked carefully up the stairs. For whatever reason I actually had the urge to stick my tongue to the rail to see if it would stick! I think I've been watching too much 'A Christmas Story!'

When I reached the road at the top of the stairs, I turned left and found myself back on the road I had just taken the stairs from. What the....? Okay, this must mean that if I go right again I will get to where I need to be?

I ran along here for a while looking for the pathway that I knew would take me to the cul-de-sac. As there was snow piles everywhere I started to wonder if I'd missed it because someone had blocked it? Finally I found a little gate that sort of looked like a snow covered path.

Again I was in thigh high snow so did my now perfected act of stumble running through the snow. I found if I leaned slightly forward the momentum would keep me going through the slightly resistant snow, but not enough to fall. I swear the whole time I was running through the snow I had my usual goofy 'I love this!' grin on my face. Who needs snowshoes?!

Eventually I made it back to the parental units street. I looked down at my watch and saw that the time was 59:03 minutes. Perfect! I just had to run past the house and back again and I will have gotten a good hour in. I will refrain from stating the distance I ran as it was hilariously short. Considering the running conditions though, I guess it wasn't a bad effort.

The weather report is calling for another 15-20 cm of snow tonight, but we'll see. I think it'll be more likely we'll get rain, which is the usual for this part of the country. So tomorrow I will either be running in a big slurpie, or in more of the fun white stuff! Whatever it is I look foward to it.

Peace out my winter wonderland friends!

Winter Wonderland...

I made it! With all the issues with weather and flights I wasn't sure if I was going to make it the see the parental unit in BC. A huge thank you to WestJet! The flight was two hours late, but thankfully not cancelled. They were also smart in that there were WestJet people handing out chocolates and such to appease the masses. Excellent tactic.

The weather wasn't too bad when I arrived, but this morning was another story...

I had told dad that I would go to the gym with him in the morning if I was awake. As it was my first vacation morning I didn't want to set an alarm, but just get up whenever. I did manage to wake up in time to hear dad getting ready to go to the gym. I had a short debate in my head whether or not to get up. I was still tired from yesterday, but if I did get up I could spend some quality father-daughter time with my Pop. So I dragged my sorry butt out of bed, rummaged through my bags for all my workout and swim gear, and got dressed.

When I finally took a look outside I was met with a heaping amount of snow! I looked at my dad and said 'Uh, you still wanna go to the gym in this??' 'Oh ya,' he says. 'We'll at least go and see if the main roads are clear.'

The first task would be to find the car in the snow - there was that much of the white stuff. Dad brought out his scraper brush and I started to just plow it off with my arms and hands. I swear there was at least 6 inches of snow! Good thing I brought out my Sorels!

Oh, I should probably point out that my parental unit live in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. If there is a skiff of snow around here, the entire area shuts down. They just don't get snow here! Yet there was at least a foot on the ground from the previous snowfalls, and another 6" had fallen overnight. It was still coming down hard too.

By the time we got the deep snow off the car it was covered again from the new snow. I checked with dad again as to whether or not this idea of driving to the gym, which was at least a half hour away in good weather. I was giggling to myself when he said we'd still give it a try. When it comes to going to the gym, there is very little that will stop my dad! Hmmm, perhaps that's partly where I got my determination from in certain areas of my life...

So with the car all cleared off, we shook the snow off ourselves, got in, buckled up, Dad put the car in reverse, we went backwards down the driveway....and got stuck. I held in my giggle. Well, I guess that settles that! Dad did the old reverse/forward, reverse/forward method of trying to get back up the driveway. Finally he did.

I went back in the house and found Mom. I told her 'I was out with Dad for a little father-daughter time at the gym, but we got stuck in the driveway so now you and I will have a little mother-daughter time shovelling the snow! My mom LOVES the snow. (That's where I got my love of the snow too...)

I didn't get to the gym to go for a run or swim, but I did get a good workout in shovelling all that snow. It was a family affair - Mom, Dad and I all out there scraping and shovelling the driveway and walk. Then we shovelled the neighbors driveway who weren't home.

Well, time to get back out there shovelling as another 3 inches has fallen. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Peace out my snow friends!

Well Hello Endorphins...

I'm not sure what got into me, but I actually went down to the dungeon for the second time in 6 days to go sit on my bike. Oh, and not just sit on it, but peddle too! I think Eleanor, my bike, was in a bit of shock!

Last Sunday I managed an hour on the bike. Not without a wee bit of help from my buddy IronGreg who was on the phone with me, providing encouragement, for a whole 20 minutes. Eventually I had to hang up for fear of 'death by sweaty phone electricution'. I somehow survived the next 40 minutes by taking breaks and doing crunches and pushups just to break the monotony.

This morning I had placed a call to my cat's vetrinarian, Dr. Phil, before I got on the bike. He said he'd call me back with the results of Mr. Cringely's test in a bit so I figured I'd hop on the bike in the meantime.

I did an easy warm up for 10 minutes then out of the blue was inspired to do some 2 x 2 minute MAPS. I figured for the hard 2 minutes I'd push myself as much as I could. If I was huffing and puffing then I was doing a good job.

During my third hard set of peddling the phone rang. It was Dr. Phil. Thankfully he's not only my cats vet, but a fellow triathlete in town. I didn't want to stop my workout because I was in a groove so I answered the phone gasping for air and said, 'Hey! I swear I'm not breathing heavy because of you, I'm working out on the bike.' Thankfully he found this rather amusing!

As I continued with my sets Dr. Phil filled me on Mr. Cringely's health. As I'd expected, and feared, my furry little buddies kidney's aren't working all that well. This is what I lost my other beautiful cat, Milo, to at the end of May this year. As Dr. Phil said, we've been down this path before so you know the score.

As he was going through the technical information and giving me numbers representing all the tests that were done, I would pedal madly through my 2 minute hard sets. "The numbers aren't as high as Milo's were" Pedal pedal PEDAL. "We can do a couple more tests to see if it's due to an infection." Pedal PEDAL PEDAL. "It comes down to quality of life and when we need to make 'that decision'". PEDAL PEDAL PEDAL.

We hung up after about 15 minutes. I continued on with my sets with renewed vigour after the phone call. I'm doing okay with this information - at least for now. The Cringmeister is over 16 years old now, so I kind of new this day would be upon me at some point. Thankfully, I think he'll be around for a while as I monitor his 'quality of life'.

Even with the phone call, I had a really great workout. True, part of it was spurred on by the news I was getting, but I managed to hold that for another 20 minutes afterwards. I hadn't pushed myself like that in a very long time and it felt amazing.

When I finished my workout and was getting cleaned up I realized I had this incredible feeling coursing through my body. It took me a second before I realized it....well hello endorphins! It's been soooo long since the last time you visited I had totally forgot what you feel like!

As the new year slowly creeps closer I feel more and more ready to get back into a regular training routine. Today's workout emphasized that.

I am heading for the wet, or rather the presently white, coast next week and plan on running a ton out there. I'm happy to run in the snow they have out there because at least the temperatures are reasonable - unlike out here! Perhaps I'll find a pool nearby to get some swims in too.

Oh, and I do have one exciting post-New Years event that I may be participating in too - that story will have to wait though.

Peace out my friends.

I've Been Tagged...

Okay, so somewhere, someone started this tagging game. Once tagged the person is to reveal 7 random facts about themselves. My sweet friend Julie tagged me, so for the last while I've been racking my noggin for seven random facts.

This should have been an easy task, but for some reason I found it tricky. Here's what I came up with...

1. When I was 25 years old I earned my black belt in Taekwondo. My claim to fame in martial arts came during a demonstration. I had to do a flying sidekick over two people, who were bent at the waist, and break a board that was being held on the other side of them. I was successful and managed not to land on the guys I was jumping over! Phew.
2. Keeping with the martial arts theme - I could never break a board with a hand chop. One time when practicing I managed to pop all the blood vessels in my hand. It made it very hard to drive my manual car home that night. However, I was given a chance to attempt this feat a couple of months ago, at a yoga retreat of all places. After 13 years I got a chance to overcome my fear of not being able to do it. I'm happy to report I shattered the board like it was glass. Aiyeee!
3. When I run I'm like a one girl brass band. I burp a great bass beat and toot a wicked trumpet melody. Toot, toot, toot! I sometimes even manage to toot to the beat of my footfall!
4. Hands down, the best date I have EVER been on occured last year a little while before IMC. My date and I rode for 210 km in one day, the farthest I've ever ridden before or since. Then we did a 20 minute brick run, where he flashed me his buns. After all that, we cleaned up and had a sushi feast. Mmmm. I'm still waiting for someone to top that date...
5. I have no aspirations to race in Kona. Nope. I want to do Ironman Lanzarote. I refuse to go there to just do the race though. If I go, I'm going to Chrissy Wellington the bike course - in other words, slay it. It's one of the toughest bike courses on an Ironman course. Mega hills and mega wind. That is my dream. Boy, do I have a lot of work to get there!
6. I have yet to pee on my bike, but I really want to. After having to stop four times, during Ironman Coeur d'Alene, to get off my bike and use a porta-potty I realized something had to be done about this. Now I just have to figure out a) how to relax enough to do this and b) do I have to practice this on long rides?! Hmmm.
7. I eat two bunches of bananas a week. I expect to fall victim of spontaneous human internal combustion due to an overabundance of potassium in my system...

So those are my seven random facts. Now it's my turn to tag someone....

Keith, my wonderful inspiration for never giving up, TAG! YOU ARE IT BUDDY!

Go check it out... http://keithsodyssey.blogspot.com/

Peace out my trivia hungry friends!

Let It Snow...

There is not much better than waking up and finding a fresh layer of snow outside...

I had to get back home this morning so couldn't go for a ski, but that didn't mean I couldn't go play in the snow for a while!

I bounded upstairs like a littel kid on Christmas morning. I wanted to see if Trudy was up and if she wanted to go for a run in the snow with me. Ah yes, I really do fit in with Canmore living! Trudy was in too, so we changed and grabbed our mitts and ear warmers and out the door we went.

My shoes squished down the snow with every footfall and made a wee squeaking sound...squeak, squeak, squeak.

We meandered around the neighborhood until we hit the path along the river. It was so peaceful out. How is it that everything gets so quiet in the snow?

Another runner was coming towards us. Trudy commented on how fluid her running style was. I watched her for a while then realized she was running on her toes, or rather the ball of her foot. I pointed that out to Trudy along wth the girls footprints in the snow. There was no heel imprint to be found. No wonder she had the grace of a gazelle!

Trudy was being mindful of her back so I took the lead through the trails. I was impressed she trusted me as the last time I took the lead I got us happily lost in the woods! I did make sure that I stopped at any fork in the trail and waited for instruction on the direction to proceed. Good thing too - the way my instinct thought we should go was the opposite to where we were supposed to be going! I think my subconscious wanted me to get lost so I could stay out there and play!

Running through the trees was pure bliss. Everything was covered in a few inches of snow...including the roots in the ground. Luckily I managed to avoid tripping over any. Actually, I had decided to try running on my forefoot for fun, just like I had seen the girl doing. It felt pretty comfortable and I noticed I could maneouver around the roots easily! I might just keep trying this method. It is certainly less jarring.

The creeks that lead into the river were only partially frozen over so I could hear the trickle of the water as it made it's way through the ice paths. Nice.

At one of the forks in the path, while I was waiting for Trudy, I practiced catching snowflakes on my tongue. This is actually quite a hard task when they are teeny tiny little flakes. Unlike the big flake standing there trying to eat them!

As we ran back I noticed something on my eyelashes...ice. The snowflakes that fell were melting on my face and eyelashes and had frozen to make little ice balls on the end of them. I could just imagine what I must have looked like! Unfortunately, I couldn't see because as soon as I walked into the house they were gone - poof!

My run today felt great. I had lots of energy and really enjoyed being one with Mother Nature. I celebrated the run with some yummy pancakes then headed out for what would turn out to be six hours of driving in a snow storm.

Oh well, at least the start of my day was peaceful!

Peace out my little snowfriends!

Stop And Smell The Pine Trees...

I was getting antsy. Life was full. Very full. More full than I'm comfortable with. I had resigned from my job, was in the process of looking for a new car, had to train a new employee, was working overtime at work, had contracts to sign, a new business to start and lawyers to meet. Oh, and someone threw a Christmas party into the mix.

I hadn't worked out all week. I'd love to say I was a couch potato, but there was no time to sit on a couch. I got home late every night, had enough time to eat a bit, get ready for the nexgt day, then collapse.

I am not a happy girl when I feel like my life is go-go-go all the time in activites that don't involve, well, activity! I was going to retreat to my happy place. The mountains.

Actually, the morning I was to leave I was so exhausted I actually considered just hiding underneath my covers until Monday arrived. I knew that I needed to touch base with Mother Nature though. She always lifts my spirits, so off I headed to Canmore to meet up with my buddy Trudy.

When I got to Canmore I told Trudy that I needed to vent for a moment about all that was going on in life. These were exciting times, but I hadn't even had a chance to take it all in and really savour it. I did this as we made our way out to Moraine Lake, near Lake Louise, where we were going cross country skiing.

By the time we'd gotten to the parking lot I was much more relaxed. I'd never been here so was excited to go for a ski and explore. I was hoping that my arms and legs would remember the movement!

Before we'd left her house, Trudy had inspected my skis. What do you have on your skis?? she asked. Uh, wax? And dirt? Apprantly she didn't buy it. When we got to the parking lot she took the skis out of the back then whipped open this little metal case. It was about 7 inches long, by 4 inches thick and 2 inches high and it contained the most ski waxes I'd ever seen in my life. Well, except in a store. She was like a wax dealer! It was awesome.

She put my skis on the bumper then proceed to sift through the choices of wax, pick a few, and apply them to my skis. It all happened so fast I didn't get a chance to see what ones she'd used! Then we were off!

It was a slow gradual climb according to Trudy. I hoped I could handle it - it had been since last February that I'd been out. She took off after a while as her life was very full lately too and she needed to burn off some steam. I was more than happy to toodle along at my own pace.

It was so nice to be out there. With every glide of my ski, my body remembered what it was supposed to do. The snow was perfect - soft and fast.

As I was skiing along I caught a whiff of pine. I inhaled deeply. Aaaah. This is what I needed. I needed to stop and smell the pine trees. All was well now.

I had a great time making my way to...uh...well to I don't know where. I hadn't been to Moraine Lake before. In fact, it took me quite a while to realize that were I was skiing was the road to the lake, but it was closed for skiing. Hmm, wonder how far I had to go. In fact, I wonder how long I'd been skiing?!

After who knows how long I spotted Trudy heading back. We'd been skiing for just over an hour, she said. Wow! My arms were definitely feeling it, but I was having fun just being outside so it didn't really feel like that long.

We turned around and headed back. Thankfully it was now downhill - I was starting to lose a bit of energy so had to mow down on some gorp. My arms were heavier now too. I loved the sound the skis were making though. Swoosh, swooosh. Although I wasn't as fast as last year, I knew that with a few skis under my belt I'd be kicking some snow butt in no time.

Although I was tired from the ski, my spirit had been energized by being out there. It was so peaceful.

To top off my day, I learned how to clean off the goop from my skis, apply wax properly AND I was going to get to see Stuart McLean and the CBC Vinyl Cafe's Christmas Show at the Banff Centre. This day truly could not have been better.

Aaaaah.

Peace out my friends!