Tri Chickie

Back at it

2012-01-10T08:17:00.002-07:00

Hey!

After my 4 month hiatus from thinking or worrying about training I am slowly getting back at it. I am not biking yet, but I have been running regularly and swimming...yes that is right swimming! I even got out of bed BEFORE work to go swimming. Yup, it happened. I tried to figure out why I decided to try this now and not while I was actually training for Ironman. The only thing I can come up with is that there is no pressure. I don't have to swim for a certain amount of time, I don't have to get a certain training session completed. I can go and do whatever I want, and if I decide to be lazy and not go, it doesn't matter! There are also a few people from work who go and they have been inviting me for over a year...so I figured I would give it a try!

I still have no race plans. I am trying to get 15 people together to do the Banff - Jasper relay, so if anyone is interested please let me know. Especially guys, we need 4 guys still! I have no idea whether or not I am actually going to do a triathlon this summer, for now some running races and we will take it from there.

Other than that I am still busy with my four legged friends. Rexy and I didn't end up competing in December as the trial was full and we didn't get in :( However, we are for sure for sure in this Saturday and hopefully we will show all these dog people that triathletes can do it too!

Happy Training!

Not quite Triathlon...

2011-10-25T08:29:00.005-06:00

Hello!

I know I have not posted in awhile, but I have been busy as I am a new Mama to a little fur baby named Crash...needless to say the only type of training I have been doing a lot of is dog training!

I also entered Rexy into her first agility trial in December, so we have been very busy practicing, which also involves a lot of running for me! I will try to post a video, but it is not working right now, so I will try to become more tech savy and then yoiu can see what we have been working on!

Leslie

Quick Update

2011-05-26T08:27:00.004-06:00

Hello!

I went out to training camp last weekend for a good ass kicking - and that is what I got. I knew that my fitness wasn't completely back, but it was going to be a good assessment of where I am at.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised. My biking legs are almost there, I say almost because it hurt a lot to run off the 160 km bike rides. The first day we did the IMC course in reverse. As soon as we started up Green Mountain Road I thought I was going to have a rough few days ahead of me because my legs were hurting. Once I warmed up though I was able to giver over the rollars and the back of Richter pass. The run off the bike totally sucked like I mentioned. I legs felt as though they weighted 800 lbs each!

The next day was a swim and hill climb. The swim was not very fun - I could not get into a groove and provided me with more proof that I need to swim more :) Which I am going to do tonight!
Anarchist mountain went well. I went a little hard off the start and was really hurting by the time I got to the top, but I made it and I was only a minute or so slower than last time.

Lastly it was IMC bike course day. I was all ready to go and then it started raining and my motivation quickly went into the toilette. Once the rain let up a bit I dragged my ass out the door to bike. We got to cheer on the half marathoners while heading along Skaha lake, they were coming back into towards the finish. Mclean creek is still bumpy as hell which makes riding through there a little rough on the butt after doing long rides - I stood a lot! The rest of the course went as I thought it would - the flats were boring, the hills were fun and next thing I new I was back in Penticton for a run. The transition run hurt slightly less than a couple of days before, at least this time I could feel my legs turning over!

The rest of the week for me involves some recovery and unfortunately it is looking like no biking outside on the weekend - it is supposed to rain and rain and rain :(

In other news Rexy is training really hard for Superdogs in July! Good luck to Darryl who is doing the Calgary Marathon on Sunday!

Happy Training!
Leslie

Riding Outside

2011-05-03T08:25:00.004-06:00

Hello!

I have gotten some good training in over the last week and a half or so. Over the Easter long weekend I had 5 days off and so I crammed them full of training, training Rexy, making turkey dinner, visiting friends and cleaning the house!

I had my first couple of rides outside! Yay! I am hating the trainer as I am sure everyone else is at this time of year. My friend Julia just got her bike so we went out for her first bike ride. I wanted to go straight from my house - Chad said I was mean to make her ride through parts of the city so we drove out to the edge of the city and went from there. We rode out to Cochrane and it was so nice to be out - even if it was windy and still a little cold. We took it pretty easy since it was Julia's first ride and she did her first Cochrane hill :)

I also headed to the Talisman centre last weekend and I miss that place a lot. It was not too busy and it was at 50m so I was in my glory. It is still freezing, but having a hot tub makes up for it! My swimming has been going well - there is plenty of room for improvement though!

I have also been putting in the miles running. Did my first 2 hour run in awhile 2 weeks ago and my body was feeling it by the end. I have had a few intervals sessions and it is nice to pick up the pace now and again after doing base all winter.

I headed over to Edworthy last week for some hill repeats and again last night. Hills are a little harder than they were before Ironman Cozumel, but the legs are coming around! I missed my brick workout on Saturday (it was like 10:30 by the time I was done biking on sat :) so I added it in yesterday after hills. I love the feeling of running once you get off the bike, I always feel like I am flying.

Thats about it for me. Rexy got invited to Superdogs for the entire stampede this year! So we have been training her a lot too so she is in tip top shape for the shows!

Happy Training

Swim Slacker

2011-04-12T08:24:00.004-06:00

Yes, thats right I am a swim slacker. At least I am aware of it and I am trying to do something about it! Last night I ALMOST got the entire workout in. I think Greg forgets how slow I am compared to him and Darryl when we used to swim together :) The "feel" of the water is back and hopefully that will keep me in the pool and stop skipping swim workouts! Running is going well - which it usually does so nothing new on that front. I have been doing some intervals lately once a week and some pace stuff during bricks and man does it feel good to focus on something when I am running other than trying to keep the ole ticker down! Biking is still kicking my ass a bit. During my next mandatory "time off" aka no triathlon year so I don't drive Chad crazy I think I am still going to try to keep up the biking a bit...cuz this hurts. I did a 2.5 hour ride on Saturday with pace intervals mixed in there - Greg has me doing watts stuff and my legs were very achey the next day. Not sore, but that I worked hard yesterday feeling that makes your legs ache. I was still able to pull out a solid run on Saturday somehow - the human body is amazing to me! All that said the count down to May long training camp is on. I am very excited that my friend Julia is coming and she is brand new to tri's so this should be fun. She bought her first bike last week! She very well may hate me by the end of May long - well she will probably hate Greg more! Chad is heading to Vegas again at the beginning of May. He still has present buying duty for me and Rexy when he is down there! Happy Training

All Day

2011-03-18T20:04:00.002-06:00

Hey,

I took the day off today and it was wonderful - I spent all day outside in the sunshine. I went out for and run with my friend Julia this morning (and Rexy too:).

We then went to the dog park where we played for about 2 hours - and then went to meet up with another friend for a walk along the river. Needless to say that Rexy is tired! Which does not happen often.

Other than that training has been going as per usual - the same old swim, bike, run routine. I am really enjoying the MAP intervals on the bike. I can slowly feel my endurance building again. Swimming is taking me a little longer to get ahold on, but I am getting there.

That's about all for me. Happy training my friends!

Leslie

Please warm up...just a little

2011-03-02T12:48:00.002-07:00

Hey!

Holy crap it has been a cold run over the last few weeks. It has been super chilly and I would like it to warm up just a bit and I am just talking like 5 degrees warmer. I would love for it to be around -15 tonight when I go for my run. Last week I was soooo cold when I got back from running. It was not very fun. It is March and I would like some milder weather...hopefully mother nature will listen to me :)

In other news I would like to run the Calgary Police half marathon, but in my typical style I was too late and the race is full. I know people can sell their spots, but where do you find these people who want to sell their spots? Anyone know?

I have also started MAP (max aerobic power) intervals on the bike. I love these. They are a good old fashion ass kicking and you can feel during and after the workout that you are workin hard and will reap the benefits.

Swimming, is well, swimming. Not much has changed on that front. My cramping in my feet and calves has come back with a vengeance. I ended up doing a lot of pull on Monday and I was STILL cramping. Blah.

Anyway, back to work!

Happy Training :)

Leslie

I figured it was about time...

2011-02-20T22:17:00.002-07:00

Hello my friends,

I figured I should update my blog...especially when Chad's family is bugging me about never updating!

There are some stuff that is new. I got a part time job at Atmosphere and have been doing a crazy amount of training for that. I may be assisting agility classes as well on the weekends for the next couple of months...that means free classes for me and Rexy!

I also keep getting sick. Not a long drawn out cold or anything. I will get a sore throat and get knocked on my ass for 2-3 days and then I am as right as rain! Needless to say there have been a couple of missed training sessions due to that.

Other than the occasional sickness all is well on the training front. I started coaching with Greg again (and I worked really hard in Jan so I wouldn't get my butt kicked!). I am swimming regularly, starting to feel like I remember how to do it :) Maybe a little bit anyway. Running has been going really well and biking has been pretty good too. I have not succumbed to the treadmill lately, I have been layering up and heading out the door. One of my friends (Julia) wants to do the Calgary 70.3 this year, so she has been joining me for my long runs lately. I have to admit I like having someone to talk to besides Rexy!

I am still working with Rexy on her agility training...gotta be in tip top shape for superdogs! I am nervous to train too much on my own because I am not completely confident I know what I am doing! The basics are okay, but now that we are sequencing I can't keep track of what I am doing!

That's about it! I want to get up early tomorrow morning to go swimming, but I doubt that will happen...so I will probably end up at the pool at 12

What's Cooking?

2011-01-17T20:42:00.004-07:00

Hello!

So I did some cooking and baking on Sunday and I made 2 of my favorite recipes and 1 new one. I will start with the burgers first. These are delicious, they are made with spinach, tomatoes, dill, green onion, pepper, and ground turkey - yummy!

I also made banana oatmeal muffins (I add cranberries and blueberries in mine). This is a recipe I got from a friends mom and they are the easiest muffins to make and they are the yummiest muffins - Chad even eats these ones and he is super picky!

My girlfriend gave me a quinoa cookbook for Christmas and everything I have made from it so far is delicious! This week I tried a bean salad, and it is really good and also really easy to make. For all of you non-cookers out there, it took me less than 2 hours from start to finish to make all of these things...dishes and kitchen cleaning included.

Training has been going well this week - biking and running a lot. So happy it has gotten warmer out. I went out for an 80 min run on Sunday when it was still like -30. I had so many clothes on I was kind of uncomfortable the entire time! It wasn't really bad, but the last 20 min I had a head wind, so that sucked and I was pretty cold when I got back to the car.

On Monday night I was out running with Rexy and I saw a great horned owl. It was dark out so I couldn't see it too clearly, but he was perched up in a tree - and it looked like he was hunting. That is one of the things I like about being out training all of the times. I have seen some pretty cool things and have come across all kinds of wildlife - awesome.

Last night I did a quick bike - only 70 min, but I did the TV workout. I was watching The Biggest Loser, so during the show I did an easy gear - 90ish cadence and then when the commercials come on I would go into a hard gear and make my legs hurt. It is a good, simple workout when you are not motivated!

Today I went running on the trails by my house and discovered a new trail system closer to the river and it was awesome. There are a lot of trails in there and I love exploring them - so does Rexy.

I have not ventured to the pool yet this week - hopefully on the weekend I will get into the chlorine infested waters :)

Happy Training everyone!

My Training Partner is Injured....

2011-01-11T08:20:00.004-07:00

Hello,

So I woke up on Jan 2nd at 4:30ish in the morning to Rexy bleeding everywhere! Ahhhhh! There is a little bit of a story here...

A couple of months ago Chad and I noticed this little tumor thing on her ear. We waited for awhile to see what it would do and when it started getting bigger I took her into see Dr.Sean. It turns out it is a benign tumor that will go away on its own in about 3 months. Whew! He did mention that her lymph nodes were going to swell as her body fought off the tumor.

When we were in Edmonton over New Years it got bigger and bigger and it was the size of a tennis ball. I was going to call the vet on Monday and ask what this thing was and if I needed to bring her back in, but Rexy had other plans. SO I woke up to the giant tennis ball thing on her neck bleeding. We tried to stop it for about an hour, but we ended up taking her to the CARE centre. Turns out it wasn't a lymph node, (they think) it was an infected salivary gland and they grow and eventually burst. They still were not 100%, so after 4 hours we were sent home with an expensive vet bill, not REALLY knowing what was wrong, painkillers, antibiotics, and a cone.

She is feeling much better now but I sure missed my training partner for a week and a half while she recovered. I did not realize how handy it is to have her to run with over the winter months while it is dark outside all of the time! We have run a couple of times now and the giant lump is pretty much gone.

Last week I was worried and did not sleep much, which affected my training for a day or two. That and a friends birthday on Saturday night, there was wine and there was a very hungover triathlete who did not brave the cold and go running on Sunday! I am going to do my best to lay low and get focused on training over the next few weeks - I need to get swimming in the mix and I will be ready to start coaching again with Greg :)

I did spend some time in the saddle this week as well. I tried to do a workout from last year over the holidays and almost died. It was so hard - I have work to do! I also did a brick workout, this run was on the tready (man I hate that thing). Good times.

I went running on Monday. It was about -19 out and a wind chill, so somewhere around -25ish I think. I layered up and headed out (as did Rexy her her plaid sweater:) It wasn't too bad, I was warm the entire time and didn't find the wind bad at all. So I did it again today. Today was waaaaay colder. I have not been that cold running outside in the winter in a very long time. When I got home I noticed that my lips were even blue! It wasn't that much colder tonight (so they say) -20 before windchill, but it was frickin cold and frickin windy. Blah. It is going to take some serious motivation to head out there again until it warms up a little.

Well until next time - Happy Training

Happy Holidays

2010-12-29T21:47:00.002-07:00

Hi Friends!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and are making their tri goals for the 2011 season!

Okay, so somehow at the last spin class Dan and I agreed to meet up and go swimming. It is a good thing he texted me to make plans to go otherwise I don't think I would have been in the water yet! I swam a whopping 1000m in about 45 min - there were a lot of breaks and a lot of chit chat happening :) It may seem like a puny workout but to this chick who has not swam since IM cozumel last November it was an eye opener about how you lose fitness. The kicker of this is that I was sore for 3-4 days after: lats, triceps, rotator cuff - OUCH! All that from a tiny 1000m swim!

I have done some snow shoeing over the holidays. We were out in Crossfield for Christmas and there is always more snow even though it is only 40 min from the city. So I brought my snowshoes and hunted down the snowdrifts for a few days while I was out there. Other than that the biking and running have been much the same - base work - aerobic zone 2 - "easy" stuff!

It has been nice running lately, with the weather warming up. Today was a little chilly though, it was -16 and with the wind chill it was -25! So it was a little nippy but Rexy and I geared up and out we went.

Other than that I have been hiding away watching Grey's Anatomy. Chad got me season 6 for Christmas and all I have been doing is watching TV! At least last night I biked while I watched it! Oh well, thats what Christmas holidays are for right?

All the best in 2011 everyone!

Off to Banff

2010-12-10T12:54:00.002-07:00

Hey guys,

Tonight we are off to the Banff Spring Hotel for the weekend. The organization I work for is holding our Christmas party out in Banff so it should be a good time.

There has been a few new things lately. First off I have been carting around a pair of cross country ski's for years (much to Chad's dismay!). I finally decided to give them a go a couple of weeks ago. It's like riding a bike - you never forget! At least thats what I thought! It was a rocky start but once I got going it seemed to be okay - I have no idea of technique what so ever, so I am sure I looked rediculous. I had fun and it is always nice to have activities that are challenging and break up the swimbikerun routine! My hip flexors were quite sore for 4-5 days after.

I have not started swimming again but biking and running are holding up well. With the Christmas season here the last couple of weeks have been a bit dodgey with biking but thats the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully next week I can get back into routine again.

I am still trying to figure out the race schedule for next year. So far I am considering the Boise 70.3 and the Calgary 70.3 - that is as far as I have gotten!

Anyway, I should get back to work. Have a great week!

Leslie

Chad told me my blog is boring

2010-11-20T19:32:00.002-07:00

Hey friends!

So Chad has told me a couple of times in the last month that my blog is really boring, so I figured it was about time to give an update. Not that much is new and exciting though.

I have been biking since we got back from holidays in September - oh how missed Lucy! Bike class started few weeks (?) ago and so far so good :) We are getting back into the ass kickings that I remember, so that is awesome.

Running has been a couple of times a week, mostly just trying to stay consistent. That is until Tuesday hit and I got a stomach flu and I was out of commission for a few days. Apparently when I get sick it is go big or go home. I went for a run today and I am feeling much better. Hopefully there will be some biking in store for myself tomorrow.

Rexy has also kept me busy, but really when doesn't she? She has been invited for another superdogs show. They do them for charity throughout the winter so we have one on Dec 4 that we are working towards. We have also finished level 2 agility now and have moved onto level 3.

Most importantly is is Christmas time which I love. I found a website that tells all of the Christmas fairs in the city and there is one every weekend up until Christmas. Yay!

My two new goals of late are to talk to my family more (I hate talking on the phone and they get made at me that I never call them) and blog more - oh and find a part time job. SO I guess I have three, anyone know someone who is hiring??

Anywho, take care and happy training!

Leslie

Oh yeah and Chad is heading Vegas in a week - lucky duck!

Finally

2010-10-06T21:35:00.002-06:00

Hey,

So Chad told me my blog was boring so I figured I should give everyone an update! Based on the comments from the last post I feel as though I should clarify, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!! HAHA HA! I was just feeling the taper blues.

Well the marathon was terrible. I have been having trouble with my asthma all summer - not too sure why but when I caught a cold 5 days before my marathon I knew that this could be bad.

Race morning I was feeling pretty good. I went for a quick 10 min run the day before the race and my legs felt good. They bussed us out to the race start and so I was out there for like an hour before the race started. Turns out it is cold in Montana in the fall and I froze! It was so cold that my inhaler also froze and I couldn't get anything out of it.

We had to walk part way up this giant hill to start, I guess I shouldn't complain we could have started from the bottom:) The gun went off and everyone took off like it was a 10km race we were running - did I mention the first 2 miles were up a giant hill! These marathoners are crazy.

Anyway the first 16miles were on trails and it was beautiful and I was having some fun. The hills were pretty extreme and my legs were beginning to feel the effects of running down the steep hills by around mile 14. My lungs were hurtin' like crazy and I just kept taking my inhaler and it would get better for 2-3 miles and then I would need to take it again.

By the time I got to the pavement the first mile was good and then the wheels fell off. My inhaler wasn't helping me at all anymore and I couldn't breathe, not to mention the pain train picked me up for a ride! So I walked and ran my way to the finish line and it took forever! This part of the race was along the highway and boring. This was the longest 10 miles I have ever run!

I did finish but I do not know what my time was nor have I checked - it was loooong though! I learned a few things about training for a marathon and if I can ever convince myself to do this again I know what I would do differently. It is now back to triathlon for this chick - thank goodness!

I have started biking again and I am loving it! I can't believe how much I missed biking and I almost kinda miss swimming a little bit :) I am trying to get my legs a little tuned in for the ass kicking I am going to get when I go back to bike class next week! I am so excited! I have been running since we got home from holidays as well - going back to building aerobic base. Swimming is soon to be thrown in the mix.

I will post some pics from San Fran and update about that in the next few days!!

Until then happy training everyone!

Guess what time it is...

2010-08-26T19:52:00.002-06:00

Hello all,

I challenge you all to take the following clues and to guess what is happening:

- I am tired all of the time
- I am hungry ALL OF THE TIME!
- I am grouchy
- I have had a couple of those days where I just don't want to run anymore
- My body is achy - more particularly my lower body

That's right it is taper time!!!

So here is what has been going through my head lately. I have no idea if I am ready for this race. I feel as though I have not trained enough, but lets be honest I am doing 1/3 of the training that I usually do. I would have to be running miles upon miles upon miles everyday to feel the same way going into an Ironman.

I was pretty excited to get the terrible taper feelings because that means my body is recovering and I must have done some training to feel this way. Also going to Saskatoon did not help my training at all - 1 week no running other than trying my damndest to keep up to Rexy on the course...maybe I can count that as training!

So here is what I don't know - I have no idea if I am ready, I have no idea if I have trained enough, and I have no idea how this is going to go. Here is what I do know - I am going to go and run my first marathon and see what happens, I have done this before when biking and swimming first (how bad can it be?), I will embrace the race and have some fun out there!

All you marathoners and ultra marathoners out there - any advice for the big day?

Marathon Training

2010-08-04T19:56:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!

So I am a triathlete at heart because during all of this running I am doing I am thinking about when I might possibly fit a bike ride in! That's right, Lucy and I need to do some bonding. I have been riding to work once a week (when I am downtown) and every time I get on my bike I remember how much I love it. OK back to running.

So training has been going ok. I have a few BIG days under my belt now, completed with ice baths, recovery drinks and training on dead legs! Oh how I miss the feeling. What has been a big challenge is trying to do high volumes of running when your hamstrings are sore for 5 days after bootcamp! OUCH. This is why I don't lift weights very often anymore. I get so sore that I can't train.

I am still trail running on Sunday mornings with friends. This is my long run day so I try and rope them into a minimum of 90 min, but usually around 2 hours and then I go home and rest up and head out again in the evening. I need to start working on my nutrition plan for the race and figure out how I am going to get calories into me without getting sick on the run. Something I have yet to master in an Ironman run too!

I tried my hand at mountain biking on Monday...which is a lot different from road biking! My friend Kathie and I rented bikes from the outdoor center and decided to try out goat trail (the one from Canmore to Banff). I went to pick up the bikes and they gave us these giant monsters! I could barely lift it into my car it was so big! After a day of long riding we ran into some people who told us that we had downhill mountain bikes - no wonder that was so friggin hard to climb up hills. This thing weighed 30 lbs MINIMUM which is bloody heavy for this triathlete! Needless to say my legs were dead at the end of that adventure.

In other news Rexy has been invited back to superdogs and we are off to the show in Saskatoon for 6 days next week! Yay Rexy! She has also been my training partner and I think she is just as tired on Sundays after our big run.

Happy Training!

Leslie

SUPERDOG Videos!

2010-07-17T22:19:00.003-06:00

Howdy!

Here are some videos of Rexy in her Superdog debut at the Calgary Stampede on Saturday! Except for the 3rd video when she missed a couple of tunnels, things went well! So good in fact, that they invited us back to be there on Sunday as well!

They talked today about putting her into some frisbee catching stuff, so I'll try and get Chad to catch a video of that tomorrow!

Below are a couple photos of after the day...the first one is is when people get to come and meet her after the show (you can see me in the middle with the sparkly gold shirt); the second is Rexy in her kennel in the back (she NEVER lays down like that)!

All said and done...a very good day! Wish us luck tomorrow! If you are bored, shows are at 12, 2:30, 5, and 7pm! See you there!

Enjoy!

Big News!

2010-07-14T21:59:00.002-06:00

Hey!

Whitefish Montana here we come. Thats right I finally signed up for the marathon so we will see how that goes on September 12th.

More exciting is that last Saturday Rexy had a try out for the Superdogs during Stampede. We got a call on Sunday and we are going down to the grounds this Saturday. We will not be in the show for sure, but there is a chance. Basically we can train in the equipment inbetween the shows and if they decide to stick her in the show then they will. So we won't know until the day of but here's hoping!

Other than that it is training as per usual. Have a good one guys and Happy Training!

Leslie

2010-06-28T15:40:00.005-06:00

Hey!

It is official I am not racing any triathlons this year. I am okay with that, I still want to do the marathon though...I guess I should sign up for it!

I am running, hiking, going to a bootcamp, trail running - all kinds of good stuff. I do miss Lucy though. I am sure she is feeling neglected upstairs all by herself. I should take her out for a spin one of these days!

Chad and I just got back from holidays in the Yukon. We went up there for a week to visit my family. I think that drive gets longer everytime we do it! Here are some photos from the trip:

First rest stop along the way - some logging road!

After awhile Rexy finally went to sleep and we could relax!

These are the caribou Rexy so kindly got off the highway for us!

Summit Lake - Stone Mountain

Ready, set, go!

This was taken the day before solstice

Hmmmm...what doesn't belong in this photo?

Whitehorse

Miles Canyon

A view from the top of Miles Canyon

We went to the Salmon Ladder

Fishing at Butterfly Lake

Chad caught a fish in the lake behind my house, this is my dad cleaning the fish.

Here is the fish before it was in my belly!

Moose at Toad River

On the way home...

SURPRISE!!!

2010-05-12T20:35:00.005-06:00

Hey!

As many of you already know Chad COMPLETELY surprised me for my birthday by taking me to San Diego. This was hands down the best birthday present! I had no idea - he did video tape me when I found out so if you get a chance to see it it's quite funny. Here are some pics of what we did!

Here we are bright and early at the airport - probably around 4:30am and had been up since 3:15 am.

I am only a Palm tree hugger!

It wouldn't be a holiday for Chad and I if we didn't hit up a stadium. Here we are a Qualcomm stadium, home of the Chargers and SDSU Aztecs.

First baseball game ever! I don't even like baseball but I had a lot of fun.

Hotdogs and beer for dinner. This is the first trip in 6 years where I didn't have a bike, swim gear, or running shoes and was able to kick back and relax!

Sea World at the Shamu show

Walking along Pacific beach watching all of the crazies in the COLD COLD water!

USS Midway - retired aircraft carrier

Lastly, in this pic we are on the double decker bus tour at the San Diego Zoo.

Since we have been home I have been recuperating from our trip! There is always too much to see and do on holidays so we never rest at all!

Happy Training!

Leslie

Hitting the trails

2010-04-21T20:41:00.004-06:00

Hey guys,

So I have been busy...maybe not with triathlon but with everything else in my life!

Rexy has been doing great in agility classes...here we come superdogs! woooo hoooo! She loves to work hard and is ready to do anything anytime. Our challenge for the last couple of weeks was to work on her "off" switch. For anyone who has met her will immediately know the challenge we are in for. Surprisingly she is getting there. We still have to give it a command...so to her she is still working...we tell her to "chill!"

We volunteered for the Spring Thaw Trio on the weekend at an aid station. It was weird because we had 2 stations: the first just past the turn around - the idea was to go around the turn around and then hit the aid station. The 2nd aid station was for the 15km racers just past the 10km turn around. This shouldn't be hard...but for the majority of the runners it was. They kept crossing the pathways to get to the aid station - good thing it was a small race and there weren't people running into each other!

I also headed out to West Bragg Creek with the ladies from work again and we miscalculated the distance of trails - aimed for 7 km and ended up doing 10 km. That was a challenge for this road junkie. All of the snow was still melting out there so we were all full of mud and dirt - tons of fun!Not to mention I did an 80 min run 2 days before that! Whew! I also through in a day of hill repeats in there last week and I did them again tonight!

These were white when we started!

This weekend is a little slower than the last - whew! Rexy and I will be without Chad for class this week, we will see how it goes!

Good luck to everyone running the Calgary Police Half Marathon and 5km this Sunday!

Happy Training

My Feet Hurt!

2010-04-11T17:59:00.002-06:00

Hey all,

I haven't been up to much since my last post. I have taken to trail running of late and needless to say it is kicking my butt. There are some pretty good hills out there and I am loving the challenge.

I am still battling with my asthma - this spring sucks big time. Especially with the crazy wind, rain, and snow we have been having.

A girlfriend and I went out to Bragg Creek today for an easy 5 km run and it was so nice to be in the mountains. Within 5 mins I wiped out on the ice...but I managed to catch myself on the way down and there was no harm done. I do need a new pair of trail runners as the bottoms of my feet are very sore.

Other than that nothing new here, I can tell that summer is on the way because we are getting busier and busier.

Happy Training!

Leslie

On the mend

2010-03-14T12:32:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

I have been out of commission as of late due to a chest infection and then I caught another cold. Talk about a crappy week. All I could do was walk and even that was a challenge some days. I am off the antibiotics but I still can't go anywhere without my inhaler. In the evenings my chest would be so tight it was hard to breathe while I was sitting on the couch.

Yesterday I volunteered at the St.Patricks Day Road Race with the Kerby Center (organised by Chad of course!). It was a lot of fun. I like being in the race environment because I find it motivating. We were at the finish line collecting timing chips. Chad ran the 5km and he said he felt really good the entire time. He has been running a few times per week at lunch time so his training is starting to workout for him.

It is a new week so I hope things go a little better for me. The past couple of days I have been noticeably better so I am going to give running a go today.

Happy Training everyone!

Blitz Snowshoe Fun Run

2010-03-01T21:16:00.006-07:00

Hey guys,

Here are some pics of the race in no particular order - I was too lazy to move them around!

Chad and Rexy post race

I love the mountains!

So the race on Saturday was tough. It started out okay and we were gradually going up and the next turn came around the corner and it was straight up on a narrow little trail. All I could think was oh boy I am in for it now. This makes big bertha seem like nothing. My asthma has been terrible since I have been sick. If I do anything above zone 2 I can barely breathe after, it is awful. So needless to say when this race was done I was a hurting unit. It was a ton of fun and I think we will do it again. Running on the trails in snowshoes was a lot of fun, there were fallen trees to go over, packed snow, powder snow, big hills...couldn't ask for more. I came in 4th overall and Chad came in 3rd...so not so bad for people who barely snowshoe.

Part of the trail

Getting ready

Pre-race

Chad putting on snowshoes for the first time

Rexy race morning...no doubt wondering what the hell her mommy and daddy were up to.

Running Fotos

2010-02-22T22:18:00.003-07:00

These are some pics I took running down by the river a few weeks ago. I just figured out how to put new pics onto the new computer so here you go!

Rexy was too busy looking at the ducks

Short and Sweet

2010-02-22T12:35:00.002-07:00

Hey!

So I will keep this short and to the point...

The move went well and we are almost settled in. Man what a difference a 3 bedroom house makes compared to a 1 bedroom apartment! Rexy is also loving having a deck and a yard...we can't get her to come inside now.

Over the course of the move I also caught a cold - bad combination. So I had a few sick days in there.

I tried running in snoeshoes for the first time last Wednesday and it was hard! I did a run/walk for about an hour. I would run until I couldn't anymore and then I would walk until I was able to breathe again. By the end of it I was getting into a rhythm, especially on the flats. The race this weekend should be interesting but at least I only signed up for the 4 km.

Other than that the usual biking and running has been going down. I have to start swimming soon as well. It is going to be hard for the first while - thats the worst part of taking a break, how much it hurts when you start again.

Happy training everyone!

I got told....

2010-01-29T22:02:00.002-07:00

So 2 mintutes into the time trial last night I told Greg my numbers (which include heart rate, cadence and power) and he told me it was time to start training. So I may be a little out of shape then??? Yes sirrrreeee.

So I have planned out my weekend and hopefully I will get through with some training in. I an going to run or bike tomorrow...we'll see what I feel like. Sunday I am going snowshoeing and Monday I will run, Tuesday bike class.

We will see how this goes!

For Darryl

2010-01-27T22:07:00.002-07:00

Hey Guys,

Here are some Rexy pics for you!

This is Chad and Rexy the night we got home from Mexico
This is one of my favorite pics of her

Christmas card photo

Well I am still unmotivated and being lazy...not as much as before but still nothing regular or concrete. I really need to sign up for some races to get me going. Chad found a snowshoeing race so I think we may do that! Something to get me going and should be a ton of fun. There is a 4km and an 8 km, I think we will start with a 4 km perhaps?? I am going snowshoeing this weekend with a friend so that will give a good judge of distance. I have never known how far I go when I snowshoe...I just go until I am tired. Good cross training none the less.

In other news Rexy is still doing well at doggy school, but she is a little ADD and gets us in trouble with the instructor. Like when she barks at us because she is bored while the lady is talking...kinda funny but not good!

We have a time trial tomorrow night at bike class. The last one I did of these was one month before Ironman Cozumel so this should be interesting!

Happy Training

Lost It

2010-01-18T19:42:00.002-07:00

Hey guys,

So today I went for a run and it was so hard...have I lost all of my fitness cuz it sure feels that way. I am recovering from being sick, so for now I will blame the wheeziness I experienced today on that and not my lazy ass.

I have been back to bike class, running here and there...no swimming though. I think I am going to get the running and biking back to something kind of regular before I brave the pool.

In other news Chad and I are moving. As of February 15th we will be moving to a house in Montgomery...we are excited. It has a fenced yard so our little monster can run around. Speaking of our little monster Rexy is now in dog classes each week. We go every Saturday and she is way to smart for her own good. When we introduce something new she has it within 5 min and ready to move on. Smart little buggar.

Catchya lata.

Almost time...

2010-01-04T19:23:00.002-07:00

It is about time for me to start the base training for the 2010 season...hmmmm...am I ready yet? I normally don't like being lazy, but December was nice. I still walked Rexy everyday, did some weights, did some short runs, snowshoed a bit, but what I liked most was not having my life revolve around triathlon training. I was and still am a bit mentally tired of training!

I am starting to miss it so I am ready for a little unstructured training now. Tomorrow bike class starts again and I think I may keel over and die...nothing like a good ass kicking to get you back on the wagon.

I started looking at races for next year today, I am going to have to consult my other half before I make any decisions...this is afterall his break from Ironman too!

Boise state is playing in the Fiesta bowl tonight...go broncs!

Ironman Cozumel Race Report

2009-12-21T21:24:00.003-07:00

Hey guys,

I know it has been a long time coming to write my race report...our computer was broken so thus no race report. I am also so very behind in blogland.

Where to begin....

Pre Race

I woke up race morning feeling okay. I choked down my breakfast; I always have a hard time eating race morning. Got all of my stuff, had a shower and we were out the door. Once I got to the race site I had the race dread feeling...but not like last year. I can not believe how different your second Ironman is compared to the first. You don't have the same unknown excited nervous anxious feeling. It was just the same old race nerves.

I got my bike all set up, to the porta potti, dry clothes bag drop off, body marking was done the day before...so all I had left to do was a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, and a 42 km run. No worries right?

Swim.

I saw Chad and Susi's parents (who are a great cheering squad) on my way out to the swim. The swim started off of the pier so into the water and I did the same as last year at IMC - lined myself up with the buoys. In water swim starts are not nearly as exciting as standing on the beach because yoiu have no idea what is going on until you are swimming.

This was such an easy swim. It was not very rough at all - the same craziness at the turns though. We swam with the buoys on the left in a counterclockwise direction in a big rectangle. We were against the current until the first buoy, but the water was soooo nice a calm you could hardly tell (especially with the waves leading up to the race).

After the second buoy it was smooth sailing because we were with the current. The water was sooooo crystal clear, I saw fish, starfish, and got stung by four jellyfish. The swim was really uneventful....I was sight seeing the bottom of the ocean the entire time. There was some guy who was drafting off of me the entire time who kept touching my feet which got pretty annoying after an hour or so.

T1

Transition went pretty smoothly. Except running on the gravel hurt the feet and the door to the womens tent were proped open a bit and there were tons of people wandering around outside - they maybe got a bit of a show. I wore a swimsuit in the water and changed into my shorts and jersey.

Bike - 3 laps

I think this is the hardest bike ride I have ever done. I had so much stuff going on I will try to remember it all.

My legs were tired and feeling dead right away. I was trying to spin them out to get them moving but they weren't having it. This happend to me at Sylvan this year too...not too sure what that is about. There was a crazy head/crosswind on the southside of the island which was like nothing I have ever experienced. This will keep you honest let me tell ya. I just couldn't get comfortable in aero and I must have been hitting a nerve because I was getting numbness down my leg. I think this was do to the wind, I must have been sitting funny because as soon as I turned out of the wind it stopped.

After about 50 km I was beginning to feel good and I put the hammer down for awhile. I was making some head way into having the race I wanted when I got a flat at about 100km. There was no cloud cover yet so I was sweating it out in the sun while I changed my tire. This was the turning point in the race for me in a couple of ways.

Once I got back onto my bike I resumed my nutrition plan and intensity right away. Live and learn...do not do this...especially in the heat when it is harder to eat anyway. About 20 min after getting back on the bike my stomach started acting up. I was also mad about all of the time I lost changing my tire. I think the only reason I was so stuck on this was because I wasn't feeling so good and once you get into negative thought spiral it is hard to get out.

A three lap course is so hard mentally! I didn't think it would be but holly crap it was aweful. The wind had gotten worse which I didn't think was possible and my GI problems just continued to get worse. I was so very excited to get back into town and hang up my bike.

T2

Transition welcomed wobbly legs for me and I could really feel the humidity. I changed, hit the porta potti and was out the door.

Run

This is what everyone warned me about of flat courses. They use the same muscle groups on the bike and the run - no hills to break it up. Normally when I get off the bike I am ready to rock...not so much. I had a hard time regulating my breathing and finding my legs - they were tired already - uh-oh was all I could think. Even so I kept running and my stomach kept hurting and the negative/positive thoughts were rambling around in my head. I kept flipping back and forth from "it will be okay...you had a rough bike...your legs will come around...this race goal is not out of reach for you" and "if my legs hurt this much within the first 5 km what and I going to feel like for the last half of the marathon." Around and around I went for the first lap of the run.

3/4 of the way through the first lap my legs started feeling better but my stomach still was not. I was able to run and maintain an okay pace but it was not happy. I started trying everything I knew to get rid of an upset stomach; the problem was that they didn't have the same stuff at each aid station. Crackers, water, pop...I tried it all.

The second lap was my best on the run. I had managed my GI problems enough to run with it and my legs were not hurting as bad and Greg told me to try and catch him. So I did. At about 1/4 of the way into the third lap I realized I wasn't going to get my goal time and gave up a bit. I was taking more and more walk breaks and my GI problems were getting worse. I was having sharp pains across my abdomen and mentally I was having a tough time. I did the run walk run thing for awhile until I could come up with a new game plan.

It had been a battle since km 100 on the bike so I was happy just finishing the race but I could not allow myself to enter into the 15 hour mark. I may have been close but I suffered my way to the finish line.

What a day.

This race tested me in every way possible. I learned so much about Ironman from this race - Ironman Canada was a piece of cake next to this one. It will take me a long time to willingly sign up for a flat course again. It was physically and mentally tough - I like the hills, they break up the race so much espescially for the bike. I am happy I did it for all of these reasons - that is why Ironman is such a great accomplishment. You can have the perfect training season, but there are sooooo many variables that can make up your day. I am not done with Ironman...there will be more of them for me just not next year :)

The part of this race that I didn't mention in my report was the people out there cheering you on. Going through town on the bike was awesome - it was like mainstreet IMC 3 times but in spanish. So fun and the people there were so great. I have so many pics that we took of the trip - you will have to make a coffee date with me to see most of those because we took over 400 pics and hardly any of those were of the race. I still have to order my official photos also - but they got some good ones.

That is all I remember for now.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Race Ready!

2009-11-28T18:40:00.002-07:00

Holla!

So we have had an interesting trip so far. On Wednesday we were up at 3:30 am and off to the airport by 4:30am. Got there, got checked in, through security, waiting by our gait and my name gets called to return to security.

INSTANT PANIC! So I go back and had to watch on a little screen while they looked through my bag. \i have all of my race stuff in there so I was worried. Alas they found my CO2 cartriges that I thought I had hidden so well. If Greg tells you you can get them through...he lies. SO got that taken care of, go meet up with the group and 5 min later my name gets called again. BLAH! This time I had to go to the agents desk. Turns out the security people don't talk to the agent desk...and they called me about the same thing. Again get back with the group and my name gets called a third time. By now I have had about 3 hours of sleep and I was getting really cranky. They needed my address for some reason, so after that I made it onto the plane and safely to Dallas.

The rest of the trip went pretty good until we got to Mexico and then it was a shit show again....well a little bit anyway. The cab drivers are crazies! We made it to playa del carmen through mant many back roads; if we had to drive ourselves there I don't think we would have made it. So we get to this road and the guy tells us that we are at the ferry terminal and to get out. There was no water anywhere...just stone buidlings and a crap load of people. \you can hire these guys on bikes to carry your luggage to the ferry...they started loading our stuff up and took off towards this mysterious "ferry." We finally found water and a boat and two of us had to go with the luggage and the others went to stand in line. Keep in mind that to learn this there were hundreds of people around who only spoke spanish and just pointed to us to tell us where to go. I was a little afraid of loosing my bike!

Once on the ferry I learned that this is the roughest ferry ever and for the first time in my life got seasick. It was terrible. Thank goodness for Susie's mom Kate for having gravol. I am sure that kept me from heaving all over people! We got to Cozumel...got to the condo and then went for groceries. Again....store closing and trying to read spanish labels to buy food! Blah. We had also been up for almost 20 hours by this point.

Other than the first day it has been pretty easy going. Everybody is super friendly. I even bartered for a necklace! Yeah me.

tomorrow is race day and I am not nervous yet. This will change once I get to the race site.
Now for all of you Ironman newbies following the race it is:

Swin 3.8 km
Bike 180 km
Run 42 km

we have 17 hours to complete it. My number is 59 and you can search at www.ironmanlive.com and I will hopefully update my blog in the next couple of days!

Until then...

Adios

Lots to get ready for!

2009-11-23T12:19:00.003-07:00

Hey!

Thanks for the words of encouragement - it helps so much knowing everyone is at home cheering me on!

Almost ready to go. I think everytime I have everything done something else comes up, this Ironman stuff is a lot of work. Now all I need to do is get on the plane!

I am ready to get to the race site so that I feel like I am doing a race. Even with all of the training I don't have the same Ironman buzz. Maybe it is because it is my second one or maybe because it is November and I haven't been biking outside?? I am not too sure, but nothing fixes that more than being at Ironman village!

Next time you hear from me it will be from sunny Mexico!

Feeling the taper blues

2009-11-19T12:12:00.002-07:00

Hey!

I was so excited for taper to roll around and my volume of training to decrease. It has and I feel like crap. Gotta love it. I am tired, I am achey and tight, and I can't wait to get this thing done. I was feeling good after swimming last night and that only lasted until I woke up this morning!

I am very happy that I have only one more pool swim left to go. I promised Greg and Darryl I wouldn't skip out this weekend and I think they are going to hold me to it. Soon my swimming will consist of floating in the ocean looking at colorful critters!

This weekend will be a busy one; we will be packing and doing the last minute errands for the trip. Only 10 more days until race day and 6 until we leave! Yay!

Race day plan for number 68

2009-11-11T17:34:00.002-07:00

I am currently working on my race day plan for the big day. 18 days to go.

Training wise I am feeling ready and wanting to get this done; now I have to focus on the other parts of the trip!

Darren graciously is letting me borrow his bike box to use! Yay...one thing taken care of. Now I still need to get new tires, top up all of my nutrition, bike tune up, bathing suits, etc, etc, etc.
The list continues to grow daily!

Thats about it for me:)

Happy Remembrance day

35 more days

2009-10-25T19:02:00.002-06:00

Hey!

That's right 35 more days until Ironman...thank god! I remember this feeling last year. You are coming to the end of training...about a month left and can't wait to get this race done!

This was my last crazy build weekend. I don't care what anyone says 6 hours on the trainer is a long time. My butt has held up well, some of you will think I am crazy when I tell you that I didn't wear bike or tri shorts for this...just a good old pair of capri's! It was way better than when I wore tri shorts. I found I wasn't as sore the next day. Anyway 6 hour ride and 45 min run makes a very tired me!

Today I did another brick. I had the best intentions of going to Katie's class but I could not drag my very tired body out of bed at 7am. My legs were not very happy either. They felt okay for the first hour, but hour number 2 I was getting pretty tired. I suffered through and then went for a very slow 30 min run.

5 weeks till race
4 weeks till leave
2 weeks till taper

Happy Training!

Bizzzzzie Bee

2009-10-20T21:14:00.002-06:00

Hey,

It has been a month since I last visited my dear old blog so I figured I should update and let you folks know what has been going on.

Here are the basics:

I get up
I eat
I go to work - I eat and do moderate exercise most days
I eat
I go home
I eat
I train
I eat
On really awesome days I get to nap but that has only happened a few times
I sometimes train again
I eat
I sleep.

So there you have it - I work, train, eat, sleep with some slivers of normalness in there like meeting a friend for coffee, going out for dinner...but its not very often. No one said training for Ironman was easy!!!

In all honestly I am feeling pretty good and training for Cozumel is going well. I was really hoping for a nice October but it snowed and my ass got stuck to my bike sitting on the trainer. Oh well!
5 hours on the trainer is not very fun as I found out a couple of weeks ago...this weekend it another big one 5-6 on the bike followed by a run on Saturday and Greg doesn't want to disclose Sunday yet...but it will be biking and probably running...maybe even some swimming thrown in there somewhere. At least bike class has started up so that helps to have a group to ride with 2 days per week. I may join Katie's bike group on Sunday morning - I may need the motivation to sit on my bike after Saturday :)

39 more days!

We bought a new car

2009-09-20T10:30:00.005-06:00

Hey guys!

Yep thats right we finally did it and it is niiiiice. We now have a roof rack and we will be going back to the dealership to get a bike rack on the top. It is so much fun to drive!

Still training tons. Last week was really tough to get all of the training sessions in between getting stuff ready for the car and I had training all week at work. Not a problem back on track and getting everything in!

Monday I did hill repeats with rexy at the dog park. I don't think she likes them either because by like number 3 she is right behind or beside me and always keeps going straight at the bottom:)

On Tuesday I was over at edworthy doing hill repeats and I was flying back down the hill when a bug flew in my shirt. I thought it was a fly so I wasn' t too worried until it stung me! I have never been stung by a wasp but man the hurts. So there I was biking downhill trying to get a wasp out of my shirt that had just stung my boob. I ended up squishing it and waiting until I got to the bottom to remove it. ouch.

Wednesday I went for a swim and even though the water was freezing I king of enjoyed it. Then again I wasn't doing 25's or 50's so I am always more prone to like swimming when that isn't in the mix.

Thursday was rainy and windy and a little on the cool side so I biked on the trainer. There were some longer tempo intervals in there. I also did some weights...legs...hamstings hurt.

Friday I was lazy and took rexy for a walk and then planted my ass on the couch. Man was I tuckered out.

Saturday was a 3 hour ride...except that I got caught up running errands and didn' t get home until it was too late to bike outside. Onto the trainer for me, it was the longest 3 hours ever. Next week I will be doing a 4-5 hour ride and it will be outside!

Today I have a run and swim and weights on the agenda. I had better get to it.

Happy training and happy recovery!

Oh yeah, there was a weim walk yesterday - 20 weims in the park it was awesome!

Rexy and Duke (her brother) playing, oblivious to everything around themA few of the weims Duke (brother), Rexy, Addison (sister)

Another week done!

2009-08-31T21:11:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

So here's the training scoop:

Tuesday I biked all by my lonesome, but it felt great to be out there. I went out at around 7:00pm and it was just starting to cool off for the day. I am happy to report they are re-paving elbow drive so it was a much smoother ride than normal. This is the first time I made it to the end...which is Fish Creek Park...who knew?

I was also at the YMCA for work that day and squeezed in some easy leg weights with a lot of stretching, followed by rolling out the good ol IT bands. That always hurts like hell.

By Wednesday my IBS battle I had been having since the weekend got the best of me and I barely got off the couch to take Rexy out. I went to bed early, drank copious amounts of peppermint tea and I was feeling pretty good come Thursday morning.

Thursday was a busy one for me. I went hiking with 2 groups throughout the day at work. I told Chad I would walk Rexy for him since he didn't get home until late (3:45 am to be exact) from the ACDC concert up in Edmonton. By the time I got home from that it was 7:30. I took a quick rest...ate some grub and then hopped on the trainer. Thats right first trainer ride of the year for me. It wasn't bad except that I feel like I am incredibly out of shape! Blah! 95 minutes later I was happy to get off of the bike.

Friday I was gearing up to go for my run with Rexy and when I came through the door Chad was home. Weird I know. It turns out he cancelled some of his clients so we could hang out since I never get to see him anymore. I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up! Come to think of it he said we could do what ever I wanted I should have made him come for the run with me!

Saturday I went for my first actual long ride since the end of July! The head wind was just a givener to me all of the way out to Turner Valley. I was so very happy to turn around. I was aiming for 3:30-4:00 hours...but that wind was a little stronger than I thought so I ended up doing 3:20 hours. Good enough for this gal. I re-read my program a few times in search of the brick workout....it wasn't there so you didn't have to tell me twice!

Sunday I went for a longish run, 75 minutes. It is hard to believe that a month and a half ago I was doing intervals during a 90 min run. I felt okay throughout...my body is not very happy with me. I am sure this will go away in the next week or so but I feel like I took 2 months off not a couple of weeks!

Yes Greg I did get my butt into the pool yesterday. I didn't feel half bad until the last 400m set and I could tell my arms/body had had enough.

Today was another run...hills again. This time went much better than last week, I was a little sluggish at the start but I was getting going by the half way point and feeling pretty good.

Congrats to everyone who competed in Ironman Canada yesterday! You all rock! Especially you Darryl ;)

Back at it...

2009-08-24T22:32:00.002-06:00

I am finally gearing up for Ironman Cozumel.

Last week I was back with the group for a 95 min ride...in the wind of course! Ahhhh....felt like I never left, other than the burning in my legs that started after about 75 min!

I did a long run on the weekend and Greg managed to get me back in the pool for a swim. I also did a little Yoga on the weekend so I am slowly getting back into the groove of training!

Today was a hill repeat run which got the best of me. Man it was hard. I was so happy when I was on the 6th one because the pain would soon be ending!

Stay tuned more swimming, biking, and running to come!

I'll let the pictures do the talking

2009-08-24T22:04:00.004-06:00

Changes

2009-08-06T12:08:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!

I have been away from blogging for a couple of weeks now and it has been busy! I will start with Sylvan Lake Half Ironman.

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning (July 26th). The forecast said sunny and 24...not so much. While we were on the way up all we could see was lightning and dark glumey clouds. As we rolled into transition they announced that they were going to delay the race in hopes of keeping the race a triathlon. So I had tons of time to get ready and wait.

They ended up changing the swim course and making it 2 loops. If you have ever been to Sylvan you will know that it is very shallow for a long way out. So for the start of the swim we were swimming into the waves (which is never fun even if they are small ones) and running half of the way out! The turn at the first buoy was pretty rough but after that it was smooth sailing until we headed back into shore. We were up and running through knee high water again...which is actually very hard. Second loop went better than the first and as I ran by Greg into transition I heard him say better than boise...yesssss.

Transition went smoothly and I was out on the bike course in no time. The first 45 km of the bike my legs felt like they were cased in cement or something. I was getting frustrated as people continued to fly by me. Once we hit the out and back I was starting to feel a bit better and by 60 km I hit the rollars and never looked back. I would pick someone in front of me and catch them and kept doing that until I got back into town.

The run was awesome. I felt the best on the run than I had all day. The sun had come out and it was starting to get hot. It was a different run course this year; two loops with tons of little out and backs. I thought that they were going to have HEED out on the course but I found out right before the race that it was going to be Gatorade. I hate Gatorade with a passion. So I decided to have one drink of Gatorade and dilute it with water every 3-4 aid stations. This is not a lot of calories or electrolytes but it did the trick and I didn't feel sick at all on the run.

Here are the overall results:

Swim - 36:32
Bike - 3:33
Run - 2:04

Total - 6:14

My transitions are included in the bike time so it looks a little slower than Boise - my bike in Boise was 3:26. I thought I had a bike PR but it doesn't look that way!

On Monday I started my new job with Prospect. There is a lot to learn but I think that I will really enjoy working here. They seem to be a great team trying to get clients out in the community more by doing outdoor activities and exercise! Everyone has been great to me so far. I have been super tired though...whoa...learning a new position sure uses more brain power than I am used to.

Last weekend Chad did his 70.3 and it was a crazy busy weekend running around for that. It was a little disorganised in some parts so it made a lot more work for us! He had a great day and finished his first half! Now we just need to convince him to do another one! Chad also got a new job working at the Kirby Center so on Monday we went shopping for the day because he had to buy some dress clothes. He hates shopping so I dragged him around the mall and made him try stuff on!

I have been doing some light training, not a lot of biking lately due to the crappy weather. I am okay with that because Lucy and I will be spending a lot of time together at the end of the month as I gear up for Ironman Cozumel! Oh and Greg booked our trip and I have the time off so we are good to go!

I do have pictures from the races that I will post. Happy Training!

Backseat Training

2009-07-21T23:19:00.002-06:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. My car getting broken into, my hours got cut back at work, interviews for a new job, and lastly getting the new job. Whew! This is waaaay more stress than I am used to...kind of puts the stupid little things I stress over into perspective.

Having said that I did get all of my cards replaced...they are in the mail. I did not get any of my stuff replaced yet, that will take time:) Chad arranged for his client Gerry to fix the lock on my car last Thursday....THANK YOU GERRY! YOU ARE AWESOME!

I am super excited about my new job. I know it will be a challenge but I am up for it. I have been looking for awhile now...things were going from bad to worse at my current job and my wonderful boyfriend Chad pointed me in the direction of this one.

SO

I am going to be developing outdoor programs for people who have disabilities. If a client comes in and they want to go skiing they can head up to COP and an instructor up there will be educated on how to teach them. I am going to be the person educating the instructors how to teach people with disabilities to do outdoor activities. Make sense??? I know it is confusing...but I will be developing community outreach programs. I love the outdoors and everything activity has to offer, I like to teach and work with people, and I am an organisational freak....perfect! I start on Monday! Soooo excited.

The downside is that I have to leave my clients at SFL. That is the sole reason why I stayed there so long, I will miss them a lot! When the work environment you are in goes in the crapper...it is time for change and change is good!

ALSO...look what I got...

There was a client at work who is a bit of a quilter and after ironman I asked her if she would make me a quilt out of my race shirts! I love it. A big THANK YOU TO GWEN! I love it I love it I love it.

Oh right...and then there was training. I missed my bikes last week. This is probably the first time I have missed bike group (other than being away or deathly ill of course) since I started with Greg last march! Holla! My legs hated me when I was biking on Saturday...they told me so the entire time...its okay I deserved it.

Running is good, swimming is good (finally!) and that's about it. I am racing sylvan this weekend. There are a lot of thoughts rambling around inside my head about this one....Greg we may need to have a race day chat...I'm scared. More on that in another post though.

That's it for tonight...I am off to bed...I hope you understood my rambling!

Happy Training!

Raining Cats and Dogs

2009-07-13T15:03:00.001-06:00

Hey gang!

I really really need to post more than once a week. There is too much to remember otherwise! Here it goes...

Monday
I had really tired legs from my hilly and hot run in medicine hat on Sunday, so I set out to do a recovery run with Rexy at the dog park. This way she could go and snoop while I hobbled around! My legs were tired so tired that after 30 mins I just decided to stop because I wasn't having any fun at all. Normally it gets better as you run...not this time it started out okay and got worse!

Tuesday
I headed up to the church and it was about 6:15 when I got there. I got everything together and waited for everybody else to show up....no one came! I figured I had missed an email or something, I called up Greg, got a workout and I was off on my own to do some big gear, lower cadence intervals. I didn't ride with the group last year on Tuesday's so I don't know where a lot of the roads are in this area but I knew I would need more time than just out to cochrane and back so I turned on Lochend??? road and did another little out and back. There was a pretty good head wind going out (what else is new....seriously) but I was able to ride home at a comfortable pace. I liked the over gear training, it was something different so that was good. I tend to dread "pace work" nights! I am getting better at training at certain race paces but there is a lot of room for improvement! I guess I should look at the bright side...at least I can ride at different paces now rather than just trying to survive!

Wednesday
I went for a run for about 50 min with 20 min of tempo in there. I am in need of figuring out what "tempo" means cuz I tend to just run faster and faster and then I can barely hold on for the whole time...I don't think this is what I am supposed to be doing! Oops..live and learn hey!

Wednesday night was group swim and we did some longer distance stuff. I have been working on the "catch" of my stroke for what feels like forever now and it is finally almost a habit. This has been plaguing me for awhile so I was pretty happy with how the swim went....even though I did it all pull!

Thursday
Hill night! I like hill night. The weather was crappy so we went to do hill repeats at Edworthy park. When I got there I saw Darryl right away...we got ready and headed out to meet Greg. This was only my second time doing repeats at Edworthy...they are still hard! It starts out not so bad but as you get up to the top it gets a lot steeper and it hurts!! I did 12 all together...I was done after 11 but Darryl convinced me to do another one for a cool down. Only triathletes ride up and down hills and call them warm up and cool down...and make it harder in between. I am definitely stronger at climbing, not so much at bike handling! I was too busy paying attention to what everyone else was doing...turned on gravel and ended up on the road. Does it count as a crash if you were going less than 5 km/hr?? Anyway my leg now has a little road rash and bruising on it!

Once we finished up with the hills we went back to our cars, I opened up my truck and all of my stuff was gone. I couldn't believe it! They had taken everything...my purse (which I normally don't have with me when I am biking), my clothes, my bike bag, and I had just bought $70.00 in bars, gels, and chomps at Tri-it, all gone I was soooo pissed. They broke the lock on my car too and did some damage to the body. Darryl checked and some of his stuff was missing too. Ironically I am more mad about my bike bag, nutrition, and clothes. My credit cards etc are all easily replaceable but they took all of my stuff that is now probably sitting in a dumpster somewhere. I am still more than a little bitter about this...

Friday night we went out to Medicine Hat for the weekend. A HUGE thank you to Becky, Dave and the boys for being such great hosts to us over the last couple of weekends! The feed us and we steal Logan's bed all of the time! I really appreciate you guys being so supportive...even if you think we are crazy for biking and training so much!

Saturday
I headed out from Becky and Dave's and headed out on Hwy 41. There was one hell of a head/crosswind which made me hurt thats for sure. Greg had given me some upper zone 2 work to do for a couple of hours as well as 1/2 IM pace for the last hour. It was windy, hilly, and hot...gotta love it! When I got back I went out for a quick transition run for 25 min.

Sunday
My plan was to get up at about 9 to go for my run...that didn't happen. I ended up sleeping longer than I intended and I learned my lesson running in 29 degree heat the weekend before. So I put my run off until I got home. I also had 2 beer on Saturday night, it has been about 2-3 years since I had a beer so I had a wee bit of a headache on Sunday.

Once we got home I was tired and headachey and didn't want to run. I dug deep deep deep into the motivation pool and headed out the door. I could feel my bike ride in my legs and they were not happy. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it took me a good 25 min to feel okay but once I got home I felt like I could keep running if I wanted to!

Today I have an easy recovery run and swim (that I missed last night...sorry Darryl we suck when it comes to planning sometimes :) Hopefully this rain cooperates and lets up a little, I don't think my rain jacket stands a chance it this downpour!

Until next time...happy training guys!

Home at Last!!!

2009-07-06T12:13:00.002-06:00

Hey Friends!

Holidays are over until November...it is kind of bittersweet. Nice to be home to get back into a routine but kinda sucks that I won't be going anywhere until Cozumel. My mission now is to hunker down and get focused on this thing called Ironman!

Training while we were gone for Chad's ride was hit and miss, I did get some riding and running in though! After being the support vehicle for him for three days I now have even more appreciation for the volunteers and spectators...it is a long day! I think that racing is easier than this! It was fun though and it went by pretty fast and I only got a little bit of a sunburn.

I think that Rexy is the happiest to be home, she more so than us loves routine! Bringing her to Boise was a good idea because she is so good in the truck now; she just curls up and goes to sleep!

Here are some highlights of the trip:

- Chad is not good at pacing himself....this lead to a very fast 90 km on the first day and a very slow day 2!
- Everyone in Saskatchewan waves to you; even if you are sitting on a cooler on the side of the road (more like a ditch in Saskatchewan though) reading a magazine!
- Chad's Grandma is the cutest...watch out when she figures out your favorite foods, every time you turn around she will be there with some for you!
- It is stinking hot in Medicine Hat, there is no aerobic zone 2 when running there.
- I had to re-read my bike workout 3 times to make sure I was actually supposed to be in Zone 4! That was a tough one.
- People have nothing better to do in Brooks than drive around and around and around. I saw the same vehicles 3-4 times while biking. Also there was a lot of road kill on the road there...not pleasant....maybe they should drive around a little less and more animals will live???
- when you eat copious amounts of raw veggies for 5 days your tummy doesn't like it...or at least mine doesn't!
- Lastly Chad did an amazing thing for a great cause! He may not be ready to get on a bike again for awhile though!

Until next time.....Happy Training!

Thinking back....

2009-06-29T09:35:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

So on Thursday we braved the wind and headed out to Cochrane to do hill repeats. Seriously when is this wind going to slow down a little bit??? My legs were DEAD by the time we got there and I even stole a draft from Greg and Mark on the way out.

What was cool was that I tried to do 1 gear harder for repeats and was able to do it. Don't get me wrong I was slower, but you don't get stronger unless you make it harder on yourself....right Greg??? I was so happy I was able to do 3 repeats in a harder gear which reminded me of where I started last summer...

The first time I had ever done hill repeats was in June last year (yes I know 5 years of triathlon and only started last year, scary isn't it!). It was pouring rain and I was on the phone with Greg going "you seriously want me to ride up and down a hill in this?" His answer was "yes."

So I got lost going to Edworthy Park which is 2 mins from where I work (if you know me and my sense of direction this will make sense). Once I finally made it there I warmed up and started up the hill. I was in my easiest gear and barely moving....not kidding...I wasn't about to break any climbing records anytime soon. After a couple of repeats Greg was riding beside me telling me about climbing technique. Every time I would look over at what he was telling me to do my entire bike would sway...I am lucky I didn't fall over...I was going slow enough to. AND I could not talk...not even able to form words trying to haul my ass up this hill. All I could do was nod to let him know that I was listening and somewhat understanding what he was saying! After about 6 of these we stopped at the top and I almost fell over! Greg caught me the nice guy that he is and then told me to do more! Ha!

When I think back to everything I have learned over the last couple of years I am surprised that I even finished a triathlon before then!! Needless to say my ability to climb hills has gotten a lot better in 1 year!

Saturday I slept in, what a beautiful thing sleep is and then I went out to do a 3 hour ride (which was supposed to be 4 but due to the sleeping in got changed to three :) It was still windy but compared to what I rode in over the last week I guess you could have called it a light breeze. The ride was uneventful, I did miss a good section on my back of sunscreen and needless to say I have a wee bit of a painful burn!

Sunday was one of those days where nothing quite worked out. My plan was to get up and run before we went out to Sylvan to do an open water swim. Then Chad said he wanted to swim early so he could ride later. No problem, I was going to run while he rode. Well, neither of these things happened. We didn't get out to Sylvan until 3:30pm...which was fine lots of time left in the day to swim and run right? Wrong. When we got to Sylvan there were GIANT white caps. It made my swim in Boise look like peanuts! My mouth dropped open and I looked at Chad and promptly told him there was no way I was getting in that water! We sat and waited for about 45 min for the wind to die down when Chad said screw it I am going in. I stood at the end of the lake...FREEZING...humming and hawing (sp?) about whether or not I should do this. Chad went so he could experience what swimming in rough conditions were like....me not so much. Maybe I am still scarred from the boise race but I wasn't going to spend 15 mins getting into my wetsuit to go for a 15 mins survival swim and not be able to work on my stroke. Probably should have got into the water...ah well you win some you lose some!

We headed back to Crossfield for a family BBQ. I still somehow thought I was going to run at like 9pm after everyone went home. I should have known better with the chatters in Chad's family!!! I finally said screw it, had a glass of wine and probably ate more than I should have (all good things of course!) and enjoyed visiting with everyone! We don't get to see everyone at once very often and it was great to catch up.

On a total side note, being lactose intolerant sure helps with the desert thing, I would have been in there like a dirty shirt having an ice cream treat...but I can't do it anymore and so it was berries and grapes for me! Don't get me wrong this is a good thing since ice cream doesn't help my training any....but this didn't stop me from staring at Chad's buster bar from DQ!

Today it is an easy run and bike. Chad and I are going for a spin tonight around the reservoir; something I have never done...weird I know.

In more important news than my rambling about training; we are leaving on Wednesday for Chad's Prostate cancer research ride! I will be doing a lot of driving and waiting Wednesday thru Friday as I am driving the support vehicle! I will update you from the road!

Happy Training

Lovin the sunshine!!!

2009-06-25T13:17:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

Just a quick update for ya! Things training wise have been okay. I was talking to Greg last night that my legs feel okay since my race but I just don't have "that extra gear to kick it up a notch when I need to" back yet. He said we will make some changes to the plan and "change things up a bit!" I could be in for some doozey workouts in the while!

Monday I went for an easy 30 min jog...nothing exciting...just running.

Tuesday I went to meet the group and I was a bit early...no one was there yet...not emails went out...so I headed out on my own! It was soooooo windy AND I forgot my sunglasses; my eyes were so dried out I was having trouble blinking! NOTE TO SELF....ALWAYS remember the sunglasses!

Yesterday I went or another easy run right before swimming; actually Chad had a brilliant idea and told me to run to the pool! What a good idea...I should have thought of it!!!! The swim Greg picked apart our strokes a bit and gave us stuff to work on. We were all pretty chatty after not swimming together for a few weeks! Grego it's great to have you back :)

Today is hill night! I hope to see Susi's smiling face out there on the hills with us tonight!! I love hills so I hope my legs are feeling snappy!

Until the weekend...Happy Training!

Recovered

2009-06-23T10:12:00.002-06:00

Hey gang!

I feel like I have been MIA from actually blogging lately! People had there pics and RR up before I did and they did their races a week after mine! My excuse is that I was on holidays and even after we got back I was still on holiday mode for the rest of last week!

Not too much new and exciting on the training front. My recovery from the race has gone well, even though I was painfully sore for about 3 days after the race...and it was everywhere; back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, calfs, abs...you name it!

I have been doing a lot of walking (I walk Rexy for 60-90 min almost everyday) and there have been a few triathlon related workouts in there too!

This weekend I went and biked the 22x and cowboy trail while the Chinook Half was finishing up. I was looking for people I knew but I was too far away to recognise anyone. I absolutely love this bike ride; I did it a lot last year in prep for IMC so it was interesting to be out there and see some improvements. I can't say I was super fast now on my training rides BUT what I did notice was my ability to power my way up some of the smaller hills. I KNOW last year I would have been in the small ring to climb up some of these and this year I was able to stay in the big ring and hammer my way up! Keep in mind these aren't huge hill by any means but I see progress and that's what counts!!!!

Other than that I did head to the pool by myself on Friday! This doesn't happen often, but I didn't bike on Thursday and figured I should get off my ass and do something! It was short and sweet but I felt like I was getting my swimming mojo back!

Tonight is bike group again, the forecast is for thunderstorms but I think I will head out and see what its like at the end of town. The weather changes so quickly here, you never know what you are going to get!

Happy Training everyone!

Race Pics

2009-06-21T19:08:00.005-06:00

It has been over a week and I finally have the race pics up. Our camera died after the swim so we have to get the photos from Tom and Darl for the rest of the race! The last 2 photos are courtesy of ASI photography!

Apparently Rexy really like watching the people go by on the bikes! And as you can see from the picture below watching triathlons is tough work!

Boise 70.3 Race Report

2009-06-18T15:09:00.005-06:00

Whew!

It has been a busy couple of days. Chad and I got back late Tuesday night and I have been on the run trying to unpack and get organised from the trip! Here's how the race went down:

Race Morning:

This was a weird one. Since the race didn't start until 2pm I had a lot of time...or so you would think but I still ended running around like crazy. We were staying outside of Boise so we had to make to 30 min trek into downtown into T2 to drop off my bike to run bag. Then we had to go back out of town to T1 and the reservoir for the swim.

There was limited parking so we parked at the bottom and had about a mile hike up to T1. From this point until the end of the swim everything that could go wrong did. They wouldn't let us put pumps into our morning clothes bags (they were bringing them to the finish for us) so they said they would have a lot of pumps on site. Yeah right. There were 2 people pumping up bike tires for 2000 athletes. Hmmmm. So I stood in line for 45 min waiting to get my bike tires pumped.

My water bottle cage had broken before the race so I stole Chad's to put on my bike....only that it didn't fit. The tech guys looked at me like I was an idiot girl who couldn't manage to put on a cage. Then he tried....guess what...it didn't fit. Did I mention this was all 15 min before I had to get out of transition! I hadn't set up my transition yet either. He got it filed down and put on and then I was rushing around trying to get ready. I had a few minutes to relax and watch the pros start and then it was a rush around again to get into my wetsuit and get down to the start.

Swim

This was by far the worst swim I have ever had. The wind had picked up and the waves were getting bigger and bigger! I swallowed so much water that I was burping it up! Gross. I also had a hard time sighting...the turning buoy's were supposed to be red but something must have happened and when I got to the second turn there was no red buoy. Needless to say I got a little off course trying to find that damn buoy. You could see the other ones for the way back so people were getting confused on where the turn was! It was chaotic! I was soooo happy get out of the water and I burped my way up to transition. My time was 45:50 which is my SLOWEST time ever!

Bike

It took me awhile to shake off my bad attitude about my swim. To put it bluntly I was pissed. I took a deep breath and after about 10-15 min of stewing about it I let it go.

The bike was wet...soaking wet. Overall though I felt I had a good bike. I did my nutrition well, I was more than hydrated from all of the water swallowed on the swim! At times it was raining so hard they had volunteers out with air horns telling people to slow down for certain parts of the course. There were a few bad wipe outs and people were brought back in ambulances; everyone was okay though!

There were some curvy roads which made the course fun and technical. I felt good the entire time and was actually passing people! This never used to happen :)

The only time I was asking myself why I do this was between 70-80 km. I was tired of being wet and starting to get cold. I zoned out for a bit during this long stretch of headwind with a false flat going up! I had to pee sooo bad and I just couldn't make myself go, so I made a potty transition plan. I was going to rack my bike throw all of my gear in my bag, take my shoes and socks and put them on while I was standing in line for the porta potty! It worked like a charm!

Run

When I got to the run I was so happy to be off of my bike and getting splashed slightly less! I had my garmin on and so I was able to pace myself to stay between 6 and 6:30 min/km. This worked well as I wanted to let it rip but could look down and slow myself down.

The first loop went off with out a hitch. At every aid station I would eat 1 sharkie and chase it with water. The second loop came around and Chad (who had to run hard to catch up to me) said I could get under 6:30 if I do the second loop in 60 min. I took the bait and was staying under 6 min/km. This is what lead the the death like feeling that came over me with the last 2 miles. I couldn't eat or drink anything and it was all I had not to throw up. I made it across the finish line in 6:32. Only 2 min off and I would have had it...I still blame my swim! The guy who caught me thought I was going to faint or throw up on him I am sure. I had NOTHING left.

I was so sick for the rest of the night. It would come in waves of hunger and nausea. I have never pushed myself like that in a race. Ironman is a different challenge; it is all about going for a long time and not stopping, this was racing the clock and it hurt.

If you would have asked me if I was excited for my next half my answer would have been no. Now I am curious about Sylvan...we will see what happens!

Quick Race Update

2009-06-14T10:56:00.002-06:00

Hey Guys,

I will give you a quick update and write the full race report (with pics of course) when we get home!

The swim was aweful. There was a flood warning for all of southern Idaho yesterday...great. The swim was rough and sooooo wavey I had a hard time getting anywhere; this was probably the worst swim I have ever had! I came in around 50 min which is about 10 min slower for me!

The bike it poored rain the entire time. I was soaked. I felt pretty good; there was only one part between 70 and 80 km when I zoned out and wasn' t thinking about racing...I just wanted off my bike. I think my bike time was around 3:30...so faster than last year!

On the run I felt great for the first 15-16 km...then I went down hill. By the last couple of km I wanted to die...it hurt. I wanted to push the pace...I did...and I paid for it!

In the end I finished around 6:30 - 6:32 I think. The times aren't posted yet, but like I said I will get a more detailed report up later! Until then I am still on holidays:):):)

Howdy Y'all

2009-06-11T23:19:00.003-06:00

Hey Guys,

Here is a quick update for you! we made it to Yellowstone on Tuesday after what seems like FOREVER!! Every mile seemed to stretch farther and farther. On the way down we did stop at Montana State University and snapped a few pics. We both find it interesting to look around at all of the different University's; on this trip we have 4 planned!

Yesterday we went to old faithful and drove through a bit of Yellowstone. Old faithful was pretty neat but it was rainy and cold while we were there so we spent most of the time letting people pet Rexy. Turns out when you have a giant grey dog that has a ridiculous amount of energy it draws some attention!

Once we got back into town we went back to the campsite so I could get a short run in. Once all was said and done we went for food and to the IMAX. Eating here is always interesting. In Yellowstone there are tons of pizza places and BBQ's...thats about it. Needless to say with all of my digestive issues it has been interesting. People sure look at you weird when you don't want cheese on anything! The IMAX movie pretty much sucked and we both think that it was at least 20 years old. A little outdated don't you think?

Today we drove from Yellowstone to Mountainhome where we will be until after the race. Tomorrow is race prep day and more universities to tour!

Here are some pics....

We have more pics from today but I am both too tired and too lazy to upload them right now. I have to get up early and get my training in tomorrow! I will try and update before the race!

Bring on Boise

2009-06-08T09:23:00.004-06:00

I sooo super duper really really excited to be leaving tonight on holidays. The best thing about our holidays, they always include a race in there somewhere!! But first before I get too ahead of myself here's how the weekend went.

Saturday morning I was up at 7:50...yes I know my mornings get earlier and earlier on the weekends! I have my own personal giant grey alarm clock that always wakes me up between 7 and 8 am! Chad of course hears nothing....

Once I took Rexy out I ate and then laid back down on the couch to wait for my food to digest a bit. Then I was out the door for my run. I am not normally running by 9am on a Saturday but it was kind of nice. It took me awhile to get warmed up as I was still feeling a little sleepy (it takes me around 2 hours to wake up:). Once I got going I noticed that the only other people out on the trails this early are other runners...people who look like they are running for a purpose and training for something. It was a nice change from the bikers, walkers, random people yelling and floating down the river, people having family picnics, the random runners who sound like they are going to have a heart attack...seriously slow down a little and you will still be running and able to breathe! Anyway I had a good run, feeling good leading up to my race and it was nice to have it done early in the day.

Once I got home we got everything together and went out to Vulcan for the Tinman Triathlon. This was Chad's first sprint distance and I was excited for him...perhaps even more than he was. We got there and it was raining pretty good. Chad really didn't want to do the race. He went and checked in and to go and set up for transition and next thing I know he is beside me telling me he didn't want to do it. I know how he felt...I go through this all of the time...I get so nervous that I just don't want to do it! I told him in the nicest possible way to suck it up and get in the pool. I don't think he was very happy with that but he did it:) Tough love honey, tough love. You would do the same thing to me so I didn't feel bad. For my first half he had to pretty much push me into Sylvan Lake...I wanted to stay crying under the tree but he wouldn't let me:)

His race went great! He looked so strong for the whole thing! We were both happy to get into the truck and warm up at the end though...my feet were so wet and cold I think it would have been easier to race. Being a spectator is hard work!

Yesterday I rode on the trainer. I found it hard to stay focused on what I was doing so every once in awhile I had to watch my numbers so maintained some kind of intensity! Swimming last night was good. We did some 100's....getting race ready! I had a hard time staying focused at swimming too, I think I just had so much to do before we left I had a hard time paying attention to my workouts!

I am feeling ready to race and I am excited to see if I can push it a little bit this year now that I can actually bike and run at different paces rather than just trying to finish! My goal as always is to PB; my times for the Desert Half last year are:

Swim: 39:32
Bike: 3:42
Run: 2:28
Total: 6:56

This was on a crazy hilly course though and by the time I got to the run I was just trying to finish! If I could get 6:45 I would be happy, this course looks hilly too so I'll have to get my climbing legs ready! I'll try to keep you updated!!

Happy Training!

OMG my legs hurrrrrt today!

2009-06-05T12:17:00.003-06:00

Hey all,

This has been a good week of training and my body can feel it. Monday I went for an easy run and it was just that - easy. Then I went for a massage and my back is one very very tight mess, and if you can believe it worse than my legs. More specifically the lower traps....which is what I am always complaining about when I am climbing.

Tuesday I was off work early so I went biking earlier than the group ride. Now that we have a little monster in our lives if I can get home earlier the better it is for Rexy! I tried to do some intervals, I have a hard time doing them in the wind. I did my best and pushed through. It was a quick one 80 mins, just out to Cochrane and back.

Wednesday I had a awesome run. When I have intervals I run certain routes and this time I made it farther than I ever had before...on a training run:):):) I was doing half pace intervals too, so not even 10km race pace! I was pretty pumped to see the progress. I am slowly developing these legs for running! It was soooo hot outside and very little wind, it doesn't get much better than that. I almost wish I was biking...that doesn't happen often with the wind!

Wednesday night our fearless leader was back and although we did our best to convince him that we should visit and chat because we need to catch up...he didn't go for it and tried to push us into the pool. I was having a pretty good swim; we did some 200's, 100's, then the 50's came and I died. I did get a wicked cramp in my calf trying to keep up to the guys on the 50's and my leg is still sore today!

Yesterday is what really gave my legs the wonderful ache that has now set in. Showed up to biking and my riding partners were Greg, Darryl, Trevor, and Chris. Crap. Four of the fastest guys in our group and me! Greg and Trevor took it easy and let me draft...and by them taking it easy means I was pedaling my legs off trying to stay on their wheels. They pulled me along out to Cochrane...nice guys! I got 2 1/2 hills in and didn't even get soaked. I had to hammer down on the way back as well....but made it and now my legs have been a little achy since then. I can feel the tiredness in them. I better soak it up for race day!

Now i get to start tapering for the Boise 70.3 for next week! Yay! We are leaving Monday night so I am very excited to go on a little holiday. It looks like I will be riding the trainer this weekend though, lots of cold rain in the forecast.

Have a great weekend and happy training!

Here it is....

2009-06-01T12:09:00.004-06:00

Hi guys!

Sorry it took so long for the recipe, but better late than never!!!

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup multigrain flour
1/4 cup of oatmeal
1/4 cup kamut flakes
2-3 tbsp Agave nectar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 egg whites - beaten until fluffy
4 mashed bananas
1/2 cup soy or skim milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup carob chips (optional but I highly recommend it)
1 cup frozen cranberries (optional)

1. Pre heat oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 x 5 inch pan with cooking spray and dust with flour.
2. In large bowl combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Then pour bananas, milk, and vanilla into large bowl.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just blended. Fold in egg whites, then add carob chips and cranberries. Pour into pan and bake for 55 min.

YUMMMMMMM

Training has been going well. On Thursday we went out and did a couple repeats of the cochrane hill and I can see the improvement from last year. I still get dropped...but not nearly as quickly and I can still see people!

This weekend was a busy one. We were up on Saturday morning to go and meet Darryl for a long ride. We met at his house and left from there. Chad said we were biking to Langdon...what he didn't tell me is that we had to ride on Glenmore trail out of the city. Needless to say I almost crapped my pants a couple of times leaving the city. I swear I could have reached out and touched a semi that went by us!! That made riding through downtown seem easy...they are all cars down town and the fastest they go is 50 km/hr not giant trucks that don't like cyclists!

Once we got out of the city it was much better, but I messed up on my nutrition and wasn't having the greatest ride. I couldn't get comfortable on the bike for some reason. Its funny how I can go from having an awesome ride on Thursday to a crappy one on Saturday. On our way back into town I decided to ride in traffic rather than stick to the shoulder...the cars could go around! And they did! Back to the truck for a run which was supposed to be a harder effort...funnily enough I felt better on that quick transition run than I did on the bike!

We went home walked Rexy and then went to a BBQ at Allan and Karen's house and got to visit Baby Alison...who is soooo cute! I was pretty wiped after biking and fell asleep sitting up on there couch! Its a good thing they know we are triathletes and sometimes that happens!

Sunday morning I was awake at 5:30 am! Chad was doing the HSBC half marathon. Man that's early when you are not racing! Ha ha...I now know what Chad goes through on race morning with me! Although I think he is waaaaay crankier :) I went and dropped him off at the train and then went back to bed for about 30 min. At 7 I was up again and out the door to watch Chad run by the house.

Managing Rexy on 17th was interesting with 7000 people going by and not to mention all of the food and garbage all over from Saturday night! She had a bit of a buffet to choose from...lots of pizza. Not too much of it got down thank goodness...I was able to catch her most times!

Once Chad went by (who stopped by they way...I still get made fun of for stopping on the run during ironman!) we started walking down to the finish. I think I underestimated how far it was...it took forever to get there! I just made to the finish in time to see Chad go by. He had a great race finishing 1:44:10 and his goal was under 1:45!! Not too shabby for someone who NEVER runs!! He needs to learn how to train for 3 sports at once not one...rookie mistake!

Once we made the long walk home I decided to get my run out of the way. I had been on my feet for 3.5 hours, but I just wanted to get it over with so I could have the rest of the day to relax! Out the door I went and I actually felt pretty good for the most part! By the time I got home I was pooped but that is to be expected! With a shower and a nap I was feeling better...and was able to be lazy until swimming.

Last night at swimming Darryl and I were the only ones there so we decided to do 200's. I am really trying to get my catch down pat so I made sure to stay focused and work on my pull. We both did 200 swim 200 pull alternating, but I busted out the flippers and paddles to mix things up a bit! Chad came for hot tub time to loosen up his legs!

Today I have a couple of recovery workouts - an easy run and bike. I do have a massage booked for this afternoon...I am about 3 months overdue!!! It will be nice to get things loosened up before my race in a couple weeks!

Happy Training everyone!

To boost my immune system....

2009-05-25T22:42:00.005-06:00

Hey,

So I am on a mission to boost my immune system and get (and stay) healthy. I cooked, chopped, baked like crazy on Monday night. For those of you who know me know that I am a health nut...or as Chad would say "I eat weird food"

Multi vitamins, omega 3's, vit D, green tea leaves, anti-oxidant drink and some weird drops that my naturopath gave me - they taste like CRAP

Ancient Grain (millet, quinoa, kamut flakes) and Veggie soup

whole grain pasta with sauce loaded with spinach and asparagus - 2 of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat

Berries - are crazy good for you

More veggies - everyone needs to eat more veggies :)

Banana Bread - this is the healthiest recipe ever, egg whites, spelt flour, no sugar (agave nectar instead), carob chips, cranberries! I will post the recipe later!

Moving on....

I went for my run on Monday and although I was still coughing it felt sooooo good to be out there. Last night we went for a group ride (about 75 min I think) and tried to do some pace intervals, which was hard in the crazy wind! I am still on the mend...as long as I don't get worse I am going full steam ahead back into training!

Here are some pics of Rexy since I haven't posted any in awhile. She has hit her teenage years - oh what fun! The last one is of her in her new house...she chewed her way out of her other one! Then we had to wedge her up against the wall until we could go and get her a new one; she figured out how to push it away a from the wall and climb out! We woke up early that day by her jumping into bed with us! Chad was yelling "why did you let her out" all the while I was asleep beside him yelling back "I didn't!" Ha ha ha she makes our life interesting....and busy!

Happy Training!

Pictures from Legend Camp

2009-05-25T22:05:00.004-06:00

Chad and I at the top of Anarchist
Me procrastinating by taking pictures!

Susi, Chad, and Greg - Day 1 at the Husky in Osoyoos

Everyone is still smiling

Chad and I at the out and back day 1

Kellie and Susi at the out and back - Day 1

This is the Mountain Goat I saw at the bottom of Yellow Lake

The picturesque Green Mountain Road

Day 1 before the ride...little did we know what we were getting into!

Pictures from SPG

2009-05-25T21:41:00.004-06:00

Hanging out after the race

Chad and his first place medal

Me with my medal

I am alive...

2009-05-25T10:31:00.003-06:00

Hey Bloggers,

I know it has been forever since I have updated, but between training camp, being away, and mostly being sick there just hasn't been any time. I am back and promise to update you!

So I guess it all starts with the sickness. The week leading up to the splash pedal and gasp I was starting to get a cold. After the race I took it easy trying to recover so that I could go out to training camp and just giver. Well I just steadily got worse all the way along. It was in my chest and I was hacking up my lungs on a regular basis.

This did not stop me from hammering away at training camp (more on that later). Which in turn made me even more sick. Then I went to Vancouver to visit with my family...my dad had his surgery on the 14th, all is well and he is recovering nicely! Once I came home I was on strict orders by Greg to take it easy until I am better.

Well I am STILL coughing and fatigued, but I am going to go for an easy run today and test the waters. In relation to how I was I am much better and I think I may be rid of this thing. It turns out I was a little contagious and now Darryl and Chad are both sick and Lisa is on her way. I am soooo sorry guys, I hope you bounce back fast!

Here is what went down at training camp in Penticton:

We left Thursday after work (around 6:30) headed to Penticton. I was down and out for the night by 10:00. Darryl was not too far behind me and Chad was on his own to drive the rest of the way. The nighthawk that he is didn't have a hard time with this! We got to Penticton around 1:30 local time and couldn't remember the name of the hotel. With a quick call into Greg we soon found our way! Then it was straight to bed because we had a full day of biking ahead of us!

Camp Day 1

We were up early enough to get ourselves together and organised to ride. We were doing the course in reverse (which is about 160km), so our jerseys were stuffed with food and gels...well mine was anyway :):):) We also had to raid Greg's food since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, what are coaches for hey!

We stayed as a group through town and out onto Green Mountain Road (GMR). Although we were told to take it easy everyone was off right away. I stayed back...trying to breathe...took my inhaler and waited to feel some what "normal." After about an hour my chest started to loosen up a bit and I was able to breathe a bit. The descent from GMR is soooo fun and you can just giver.

We met up again at the Big Bear and once everyone got there we were off to tackle the rollers and the back of Richter pass. These were still challenging but nearly as bad as I remember. I snotted and hacked my way up and was soooo happy to see the Husky in Osoyoos. After a quick break we were back out on the road and my legs were feeling all of the climbs I had just done. The way back into Penticton Susi and I rode together...we would take little breaks and chat and then get down to business and bike. I got a flat outside of Oliver and was able to change it with relative ease. To be honest I was kind of glad because the break was nice!

We stopped again (very briefly) at Tickleberrys and met up with Chad and Dusty. The way back into Penticton was along Skaha lake (the run course for IMC). It is so pretty along there...and bumpy I might add!

I was more than happy to get back to the hotel, and then somehow they convinced me to go for a run. It was a quick one, only 10 mins I think but with my wheeziness that was good enough for this gal. Then it was into the freezing okanagan lake to ice the legs. Within a couple of minutes I was good and numb. Susi braved the water with me...Chad put a toe in and said no way!

Camp Day 2

We went out to Oliver to go for a swim. It was CCCCCOLD. I had to talk myself into getting in the water. I wanted to swim with Chad though because it was his first open water swim. Open water swimming is sooo different than swimming in a pool. Especially when you throw a wetsuit and lots of people in the mix. We started out okay, Susi was giving Chad sighting tips. He wanted to take a break so we went back into shore and then I swam out a bit and he swam to me. That way it was easier for him to sight and stay on track.

Once we got out of the freezing lake we headed out to Osoyoos to climb anarchist. This is a 20 km climb with some pretty good grades. I love the challenge of climbing so I was actually looking forward to it. I started time from the moment I had to gear down...I don't think I even made it past the fruit stands at the bottom before I had to do that! I got into my groove and climbed my way up. I did see a mink and a snake...which I still think was alive although no one else believes me that it was! I find the hardest part is when I am close to the top and around every corner I am looking for the top and it isn't there! It took me 1 hour 19 min to get up to the top. Then it was the zoom zoom down. By the time I got to the husky my back was on FIRE!! Yes my back...sounds weird but when you climb like that you use a lot of core and back...so mine was hurting.

The way back I was a hurting unit and was sooooo happy to be off of the bike. Chad and I went for a quick run...I was smart today and took my inhaler about 30 min before I got on the bike so I was still a little wheezy while running but not nearly as bad as the day before!

Camp Day 3

This was a doozy of a day for me. I felt awful. I got up, got ready and headed out at about 7:30 to get a head start on the guys. I lost part of the group right away...they decided to go down main street instead and I didn't know:) So I went to usual way and led a couple of other people who didn't know the course out to Maclean Creek Road. Once I got going it wasn't too bad, not great, not awful. I tucked into aero at OK falls and stuck to my plan all of the way out to Osoyoos. By the time I reached the Husky I was hurtin, but the hills were coming and I like to climb so that was my saving grace.

Up Richter and onto the first couple rollers is when Greg and a couple of the other guys caught me. I was happy I made it that far, I was sure they would have me by the Husky! Darryl came by a hill or two after that! The rollers went good considering, I did go into Keremeos for a quick water break and then it was back to Yellow lake. I think the 20ish km of gradual climb leading up to Yellow Lake it worse than the climb itself or at least I find it harder!

At the top of yellow lake I had a little pity party. For some reason I figured that even though I was sick, killed my legs with the 2 previous days, it being early in the season I should have seen more improvement. My frustration with being sick 4 times since January finally got the best of me and I was not a happy camper. I kept on trucking...I was cranky but I wasn't about to pull over and call it quits. So I sucked it up and kept on going. When I got back to the hotel I wanted to crawl under a rock. Instead I went and iced my legs, had a shower, took a couple of advil and layed down until the pounding stopped! An hour or two later I was feeling a little more human and was able to go out an visit a bit. I have not felt that awful in a long time....I think Ironman was easier than that! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right???

I have not trained since then, so I am itching to get going again because I have the Boise 70.3 coming up in a few weeks! I do get to watch Chad race for the next 2 weekends as well, watching races always motivates me!

I think I have paid my sick dues for the year so hopefully I can move forward to a healthy summer and season!

I am sooooo behind in blog reading as well so my plan is to catch up and see how everyone's training is going!

Happy Training everyone!

SPG Race Report

2009-05-11T10:08:00.002-06:00

Hey all,

Here is how the day went down...

Morning.
The alarm went off way too early at 6:30 am. Although we were in bed at 11:30 the night before Rexy must have been nervous for her mom and dad because she was tossing and turning all night...keeping us awake. Chad and I were both tired and cranky but we got up and got out of the house smoothly in the morning. After my last 2 races I decided I have to eat at least 2 hours before I race and it worked out perfectly!!!

We pulled into the parking lot and as we were unloading the bikes Lisa and Darryl pulled up behind us. We went to set up transition, get body marked, all of the pre-race duties. I hate waiting for the race to start. I get sooo nervous I felt like I was going to throw up my breaky.

I was feeling a little nervous about wearing my tri shorts in the water...I have never done that before (only under a wetsuit)...these ones were feeling a little loose. Darryl offered me his shoe lace so I could tie my shorts up...but I decided to go ahead without...ooops...more on the later.

Swim
I walk over to my lane and was chatting it up with Julie, well we tried but we were both too nervous/race focused to chat! I am standing there watching all of the tall lanky swimmer looking guys come over to our lane. Needless to say I was feeling a little intimidated, I shouldn't have been after all I do swim with 3 tall lanky guys all of the time!!!

I decided before I even got in the water that I was going to swim and not worry about anyone else and not worry about passing anyone. Last year I wasted so much energy trying to pass people so this year I was going to save energy and draft. I think all of those guys lapping me three times helped pull me along in the water!

The swim was mass chaos as per usual with 12 people in one lane. I stuck with my game plan and it worked out perfectly. The guy I was drafting off of must have got sick of me on his feet because with 500m left he let me pass him. I guess I would have to work a little hard for 1/3 of the swim! I had pushed off for my last length and the people were all yelling and screaming at me to get out...who was I to argue...so I got out. I am 90% sure I still had another lap to do.

T1
I think this was one of the fastest transitions I have had. Out of the water, put my jersey and I was flying through everything. When I looked over and saw that I had beat Darryl out of the water that confirmed my belief that I was a lap short on the swim! On my way out of transition Chad told me to hurry up...I was ahead of Darryl!

Bike
I wasn't even out of the parking lot and I had to stop. I went over this little bump and lost my water bottles. One of the great volunteers helped me chase them down and I was back out onto the course.

The entire bike I kept down in aero and focused on getting my legs turning over. My bike computer isn't working properly (telling me I am riding at 40-60 km/hr....which would be sweet if it were true), so I used my cadence and my garmin to figure out where I was at. I tried keeping the cadence at 90 and speed somewhere around 30km/hr. I kept telling myself make it happen on the bike and survive the run. Coming back into town my legs were staring to hurt...I couldn't help but wonder how I was going to run 10 km at the pace I want.

T2

Super easy, super smooth. I was out of my bike shoes and into my run shoes in no time! I couldn't help but notice that there weren't many bike in transition yet...a very unfamiliar feeling to me!!

Run

The run went good...so good. Once I got the numbness out of my toes I was cruising along and couldn't believe the numbers I was getting on my garmin. For both the 10 km run I did in the last couple of months I was dying trying to hold a 5 min/km pace. Yesterday I was able to do it!! I was working really hard don't get me wrong...but I felt good and strong. I was able to maintain this pace throughout the entire run. I was passed the second aid station when I saw Darryl on his way back...with a high five to keep things rollin! I saw Julie in there too....who was working really hard at breathing but I did get a nod this time :):):)

I had been passed at one point by a girl in my age group (who ended up winning our AG), then I passed another and was chasing down the 2nd place girl. Of course I had no idea the placings at the time, I saw her and saw that she was in my age group and decided I would try to catch her!! She must have been reading my thoughts cause when I saw her at the finish line she told me that when she saw me coming it made her speed up!

Then there was the hill. I was having such a good run up until then...probably would have had a PR for a 10 km if it wasn't for this beast. It is so freaking steep. I walked twice on the way up. I made a deal with myself to walk up the really steep parts and run the rest. This was the only time I could tell I had a cold...as I was wheezing, coughing and sputtering my way up the hill! It was here that I saw Chad come flying down the hill.

After the race we sat waiting for them to announce the race results...visiting, sharing race stories etc. Much to my surprise I heard my name. Yup 3rd place in my age group! I didn't even hear my time because I wasn't really paying attention! I was super surprised and pumped all at the same time! Chad and Julie also cleaned up winning 1st and 2nd overall respectively. I believe Darryl was 5th in his age group. So needless to say it was an awesome race day for everyone!

Here are the official times:

Swim 26:52
Bike 1:26 (this includes both transitions...and the run up the stairs!)
Run 53:16
Total 2:46:51

Last year my time was 3:02:15 for the same race!

Today I am quite sore....everywhere. Bring on the recovery and get ready for training camp this weekend!

Quick Update...

2009-05-09T11:18:00.002-06:00

Things have not really slowed down for me this week, so I am hoping on Monday I will be all caught up and my life will return back to normal!

Training has been good, getting everything done and feeling good while I am doing it. I have caught a small cold in the last couple of days....along with an IBS flare up that won't seem to go away.

Today Chad and I are heading to Lethbridge for the triathlon down there! Last year I was a minute or so shy of breaking 3 hours....so that is my goal. I know I am sick....but I think I can do it. I will give you full race report when I get back.

Have a great weekend....supposed to be nice tomorrow so at least we can get outside a bit more. Happy Training!

I can breathe again!

2009-05-04T10:28:00.002-06:00

Hey,

Last week was a crazy week, my boss has been gone for about 3 weeks and it all added up by the end of the week. I also had to work on Saturday, so I was up earlier than I usually am during the week to be into work for about 6 hours. Needless to say between work and training I am pooped!

Here's what I remember:

Tuesday I did a recovery ride on my own at home (75 min I believe)...it was also my birthday so I skipped spin class so Chad and I could go out for birthday supper!

Wednesday I went for an easy 40 min run...nothing exciting happened while I was running. I didn't have a watch, HR, pace...nothing! I forgot all of my gadgets at home so I was running just for the sake of running, and I felt great. By Wednesday night the feeling of greatness was gone. I had an IBS flare up that started on Monday and it got the best of me by that night. So our swim was less than stellar and we ended up with a lot of hot tub time!

Thursday Chad and I biked at home on the trainers due to the usual crappy weather conditions! We did a 90 min ride with some hills. I love watching Chad hurting on the bike...this triathlon stuff isn't so easy hey?? We did 6 x 6 min hills with 4 min easy. All and all it was a good ride!

Friday didn't do too much...took Rexy for a walk and went to bed early so I could get up and go to work on Saturday.

Saturday I was feeling a little tired when I got home from work but managed to convince Chad to go for a run too. It is always easier to get out the door when someone else is going too! This is my first long run where it was actually warm out, so I had a little bit of a hard time keeping the ticker where it should be. I felt great for the first half of my run until I hit the sets of intervals. OUCH! I had 3 x 6-8 min at 10 km pace with 4 min rest. I thought it would be pretty easy...tough...but not killer. I hit the first one going up big bertha (a hill that kills on one of our running routes). By the time I got to the top I thought I was going to keel over. My heart rate was at 172, it had been a couple of years since I hit the 170's running! The rest of that interval was spent trying to breathe. The next one was fairly flat...still hurt just not as bad. The last one I hit the remainder of the hills...back up to 172. This run kicked my A$$. I can tell I was running hard because I was sore yesterday...even my butt was sore!

Yesterday Chad and I went for a long bike ride. We decided to do the Beisiker road since we had never done it and that we we could pawn Rexy off on family! The first 40 km was good, I was chillin and just enjoying being outside. I did notice that we were continuously going down and that the way back was going to hurt. The first half was good 40 km in 90 min...finally felt like I could bike again. Chad and I rode around Biesiker looking for a gas station (that we couldn't find, how weird is that?) and we got hit with a little mini twister. We watched it coming towards us and decided to stop and put our feet on the ground before this thing hit us. I have never seen one this strong. It picked up peoples chairs in their back yards and the hit the roof! Yikes. We made it out with rocks in our shoes and wondering what had just happened. The ride home was awful. Full on crazy wind...yet again. I am really starting to get sick of this wind, some wind okay, to be expected we live in Alberta but this is getting a little crazy and tiresome on my poor little legs. Did I mention that it was 40 km uphill against crazy wind??? I just keep telling myself that it is good training...it still sucks though. I was so happy to get back to the house. I took Rexy and we went for a little transition run. Greg said something about tempo in there?? I'm not too sure it was quite tempo but my legs were moving so I was happy with that.

Today I am tired. Easy run and bike...thank goodness the easy was written right into my plan. In the meantime I have some blog reading to catch up on!

Bits and Pieces

2009-04-28T10:02:00.002-06:00

Hey Gang,

So last February I think it was I remember chatting with Greg about running efficiency. It made sense training your body to run faster while keeping the ticker under control so you don't collapse when trying to do something like an Ironman! For the most part I thought I was really getting there, I have come a long way....but still have a lot of room to improve.

In Feb/March this year I was working on having a faster leg turnover, getting the legs moving....again more efficiently. It was amazing to see how much my speed I got from doing this without killing myself aerobically. I was seeing improvements in that as well it was becoming more natural to run that way, but I was only doing it when I was told to, not all of the time. At some point among the many weeks off I have had due to illness I forgot about this.

Last week I had a lot of intervals and each time I was half way through the workout and almost dying until figured out I was running faster, but working waaaaay harder than I should be. It finally clicked, I need to start focusing more when I run and thinking about efficiency ALL of the time....not just running....and not be off in la la land the entire time (which is where I usually am when I run:). So I guess what I am babbling about is that I am finally starting to get it, I know what I need to do to get a little faster.

I did try to apply this to the 10km race I did on Saturday and for the first 5km it went well but then other factors like extreme cramping and asthma started to kick in. Chad was feeling just as crappy so I am glad it wasn't just me! The course was a 2 loop course with a big hill at the end of each loop...it was at that point on the first lap it became about survival for me. The second loop was slower, but I still made it through. My time was 52:15 by my watch and the official time was 52:39 I think. About the same as I was for the Moonlight run a month ago. One of these times I will not eat so much before I run 10 km and avoid the cramping situation all together.

The last couple of days have been about recovery. Nothing too exciting in that regard.

Rexy has bounced back to her crazy energetic self and is driving us crazy! It doesn't matter what it is but if she can pick it up and chew it she will. Yesterday she ate my book, the grocery list out of my purse, part of the yoga mat box....Every time I think I have puppy proofed the house she finds something new!

Happy Training!

More zzzzzz's please

2009-04-24T10:42:00.003-06:00

It turns out when I am worried about something I have a hard time sleeping. All week I could not figure out what was bothering me....and then after Rexy got spayed yesterday and made it through safe and sound I was out!

I brought Rexy into see Dr. Sean on Tuesday because she wasn't eating, throwing up etc...and if that wasn't enough had to bring her in again to get spayed. It was more nerve racking than normal since she had been sick since last Friday...I wanted to cancel the appointment but Dr. Sean (very patiently) explained to me that she would be FINE!

The good news is that everything went a-okay. She was excited to get to the vet clinic and the AHT said that she was a great patient all day. She has no intestinal blockages...it is just really inflamed and she has special food and pills to get that under control. She was funny last night with the morphine, but as long as she was snuggling up beside me she was good.

Training has been good, we swam on Monday night and it was a hard one. Ironman specific swim sets with the main one being 3 x 800m. The first set went by fast, the second my goggles were sucking my eyes out so that was all I could think about, the third I didn't think I was going to finish because there was only 16 min left until the pool closed. Darryl told me I could do it and I thought he was crazy. I did it! I could not pull myself out of the pool after, no one else was left in the pool, and I finished to the lifeguard standing above me telling me to get the hell out. Yay me!

I biked outside with the group on Tuesday. It was crazy windy, which seems to be the trend lately. It felt good to be out there is just shorts and a jersey though! Nothing exciting happened...just focused on not being blown into traffic!

On Wednesday I went for a run and it was an interesting one that's for sure. I was rushing to get out there before the snow started coming down...I didn't make it. I started out running into the wind with the snow pelting me, getting it in your eyes is the worst. I was running along and I looked over to see this guy outside vacuuming his lawn in a snowstorm...yeah I know...weird. I kept on trucking along, and on my way back the same guy started talking to me. I didn't hear what he said but it was something along the line that I shouldn't be out running in the snow and need to go home and get into a hot shower. Me being the nice person that I am told him I was trying to get my run in before the snow got too bad. THEN he said "not running at that speed you won't." Harsh...this coming from the guy vacuuming his lawn in the snow. In my defense I was doing 4 min tempo intervals and when I was going by him I was recovering between sets!

I was bad a skipped swimming on Wednesday. I was tired, it was snowing, I had to get up early...so with all of those excuses I talked myself out of it! Yesterday was a rest day which worked out well due to Rexy's visit with Dr.Sean, and today I have a run with some pick ups in there.

Chad and I are heading out to Medicine Hat tonight for a 10 km race tomorrow morning. This was the race I actually placed 3rd in last year...so hopefully no really really speedy people entered and I have a shot at it again! We will see!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

The girl that I am

2009-04-20T11:37:00.002-06:00

Hey Bloggers,

To start off Chad and I have a sick puppy :( She ate some rocks (yes she is still eating things!) and then on Friday started vomiting and had diarrhea (the rocks came up thank god). We thought she was getting better, she was eating a bit, drinking lots of water, having more energy...and then this morning whamo....more vomiting and diarrhea. Needless to say we are off to the vet tomorrow.

Back to training....

Thursday I wasn't woman enough to brave the weather and ride outside with the freezing cold wind, I was cold just walking the dog. Onto the trainer I went and had an awesome workout. I was pulling up those hills let me tell ya because my hamstrings were sore for 2 days after that.

Friday is my off day and this is where Rexy started getting sick...need I say more.

Saturday I had a hair appointment that I HAD to go to. With all of the swimming, biking, and running you gotta give a girl something so every 3-4 months I have a mandatory hair cut/highlight. I know some people don't understand...but this is my girly thing I do. So having said that I also got a phone call from my Aunt Nanette saying that they were coming in for the day! The choice visiting with the fam or go for a run....of course I chose visiting with the fam. No long run for me....even though I was actually supposed to bike as per coach Greg.

On Sunday Chad and I procrastinated biking for awhile, both of us just being lazy and trying to get up the nerve to go out against the cold wind. We parked out at the church and made our way out to Cochrane against the crazy wind. One of these days it isn't going to be this windy and I will be able to ride faster than 20km in an hour (uphill against the wind in my defense). Once we got out there we explored horse creek road a bit as it is part of the calgary 70.3 course. On the way back we were flying along, may heart rate finally in zone 2 where it should have been for the entire rides...oops. Cochrane hill was tough; first time of the year climbing up that bad boy. I was hurtin, but not as bad as Chad was! I need to remember to bring my inhaler when biking outside in the spring...sometimes when I can't really breathe (like yesterday climbing up that darn hill) it would be nice to have it! In total we went about 65 km in 2:50 with lots of climbing!

Today I have to run and make up the swim we missed yesterday as Chad and I got back from biking too late to go swimming. I think I need to work on some time management skills!

Back in the Game

2009-04-16T09:55:00.002-06:00

Hey bloggers,

Here is whats been going on training wise over the last couple of days:

Tuesdays bike was awful...god awful...so awful I got off of the bike at 45 min and called it a night. I was a little disappointed, a little frustrated, but then yesterday I had an awesome day of training and the memories of my awful bike ride began to fade.

Started out with a 45 min run...and felt good. My legs felt good, really good, ahhhhh a GOOD run...finally. I can tell spring in here because it is harder to breathe right now (all you asthmatics out there know what I am talking about) and I now have to share the running path with a bunch of mean cranky geese (which I am really very afraid of).

Last night we had swim group. Greg emailed us the workouts and specifically says no slacking because I am not there....ahhhh he knows me so well. On the agenda was the mean workout where I was really really very cranky afterwards (500m, 4x 25 fast, 400m, 4 x 25 fast, 300m...you get the idea). This time we had pace stuff within the longer sets AND I could lift myself out of the pool when we were done! Big accomplishment! I couldn't do that after the first time, I had to go over to the grandma stairs to get out ;) It was a 70 min swim...and it was hard...and I was the first one in the pool (this never happens, I am always last).

Tonight is bike night again. I hope it goes better than Tuesday; its only supposed to get to around 10 degrees today so I don't think we will be riding outside! We made some plans to ride with Darryl on Saturday...the group rides are starting...so fun!

Happy Training!

Sad Day

2009-04-14T16:09:00.003-06:00

My Dad messaged me yesterday to tell me that our family dog had passed away. It was a sad one to be sure. Chess had been sick off and on for awhile so she is in a better place now. We will miss her....

First Outdoor Ride

2009-04-13T10:17:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!

I was a little MIA last week cuz I got the flu on Tuesday and it lasted until Saturday...nasty. I was home sick from work on Tuesday and Wednesday and the only time I left my bed was to run into the bathroom! I have been on solid food for a couple of days now and starting to feel better.

On Thursday I went to work... and took Rexy for a walk...and slept. Very exciting day I know!

On Friday I was determined not to be couped up in my house another day (I was starting to go crazy) so I ventured out with Rexy to the dog park. I did have to stop and rest a lot going up the giant hill...it amazing how something so simple can be so hard once you have been sick. I did make it down to the river though and tried to get Rexy to go swimming!! She won't quite swim yet but she will go in up to her chest when chasing a stick! I do have pics, but since our computer is broken I won't be able to post them for awhile :(

On Friday evening Chad and I went over to Greg's so they could put Chad's bike back together (it does look pretty sweet though!). What a production that was. It turns out putting the cables through the frame was a little harder than anticipated. We got there around 8 and they didn't finish until 12:30, there was a lot of cursing but they got it back together!

Saturday I think I took Rexy for another walk (we had quite the week of walking since that was all I could do;) No complaints from her I am sure! That night we met up with Darryl and Lisa for some running shoe shopping, dinner, and a movie. We went to see Monsters vs Aliens...which was in 3D and funny!

Yesterday I decided to give this training thing everyone is talking about a try and Chad and I went for our first outdoor ride of the year! We went out to Crossfield and rode out to Madden. It is always COLDER and WINDIER in Crossfield. After taking forever to get our gear on we were ready to take on the wind. It took us 75 min to ride 20 km. We were not moving fast, but sure got some strength work in against that wind!!! I can't believe we were on our bikes for 2 hours and only went 40km...who does that??? We were getting cold by the time we got back but it was sooooo nice to be riding outside!!!

I am not quite 100% yet, but almost there and I can start up the training again. I was starting to get bored by not being able to train!! Oh and we were in Lululemon on the weekend and Chad got into talking to this lady and she was saying that you can apply to be an ambassador for them; give them feedback on clothing etc. So I think I am going to give it a go. I wear the clothes anyway so why not get a little bit of a discount? I have to get everything together for it and bring it into the store and chat with them!

Happy Training!

Quick Update

2009-04-06T15:55:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!

Last week was so long ago I can't remember too much of what I did and/or how it went. I did get my new trainer though...which is super duper awesome. I had it all put together-I am a girl so I followed the instructions in order....then at the end when all is said and done it says to add another piece in for 650 tires. Grrrrr. Why didn't they put that at the top??? So I had to take it apart, add the stupid piece, and put it back together. Did I mention I did this at the beginning of spin class???

The weekend was good. I went out with my girlfriend on Friday night so I didn't get on my bike until late Saturday night:) I knew it was going to be hard a little hungover and super tired. It turns out if you are up until 3:30 in the morning your dog still gets up at the same time! Once I did get going on the bike it was a tough one. Greg had be doing some power stuff and I started out really easy (and I am glad I did) because every 30 m in I had to increase by 10 watts....not so bad until you have to do it for 2 hours!

Sunday morning I got up early and did my long run. The Glencoe Icebreaker was on and so I was a lot of people I know out there racing! I found it motivated me a bit to run with everyone running a race around me. I did 90 min, it should have been 97 min or so. I am really bad at time estimations when I have to mix up the pace; I did 3x8 min during the last half of my run. I ran 7 min faster with those in there!

Last night we went swimming and my friend Alan joined us! Poor Greg was at home coughing up his lungs...I hope you feel better soon, chest colds suck! I was having a crappy swim, I was working on my stroke and drills and stuff...but it wasn't working so I got a little frustrated and pulled a Chad a got out of the water. I thought I was in the water for 45 min, Chad thought 35 min, so lets go with 40 min!

Other than that I am still doing my parade of doctors appointments. Due to my skin burning off when I get out of the pool and when I put lotion on it I went to buy new products again! I think I need to move away from Alberta to somewhere with a little more humidity and maybe that will help!

Well until next time...happy training everyone!

It kinda sorta maybe feels like spring outside

2009-03-30T16:59:00.003-06:00

Hey guys,

I got back from my run a little while ago and it was soooo nice to run when the sun is out and with a teeny tiny little bit of warmth! Still not shorts weather but hey at least I got to wear carpi's!!!

This weekend training went well. I did a brick on Saturday morning and even though my legs were a little slow to warm up by the time I got out to run they were feeling pretty good; 2 hour ride, 15 min run.

I did a longer run yesterday and I was running with the cows out in Crossfield. It was a little mushy but I made it through still feeling good at the end. Afterwards I wanted a nap. Long runs make me more sleepy than any other workout! We did miss another swim....at least this one wasn't because I was avoiding it....maybe perhaps Chad was????

Tonight I have to bike and I get to do some hill/strength work which I love! Chad is going to make up for the missed swim tonight and since I can't do everything I am going to stay home and bike instead.

We did go to Bow Cycle on Saturday for the sale...I got some pedals FINALLY (it has been a year or so) for my road bike. AND I am trying to sweet talk Chad into sweet talking his client Larry to maybe...possibly powder coat my road bike too :):):) I'm thinkin purple???

Ironman Utah Anyone??

2009-03-27T11:11:00.003-06:00

Hey guys!

Chad and I have been throwing around the idea of Ironman Utah....as have Greg and Darryl. Doing a race in Utah would be super fun, and we could go to Vegas! It is in May so it is a good thing I don't mind riding on the trainer. It does look crazy hilly though, here are the profiles for the bike and run (2 lap course).

Bike Course

Run Course

Ummmm...yikes. The good news is that hills are fun to climb on the bike....the run not as much.

On Tuesday was time trial. At the beginning Greg said same gear, same cadence, heart rate under 170bpm. I looked at him like he was crazy but did it anyway. I topped out at 165....what 165??? Its almost like this Greg guy knows what he is doing or something! It was nice to see the improvement since my last time trial was awful!

Wednesday I did a 40 min run, it was good, nothing really exciting to report there except that it was crazy windy and a cold wind at that. I can't wait to wear shorts and a tank top running. Wednesday night we met up with the group and went swimming. I had a good swim...I felt GOOD in the water. It has been a long time coming that I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to! Greg did bring up the idea of adding a third swim in...he's getting me used to the idea so that when it happens I don't freak out. Maybe once it gets warm out swimming won't be such a bad thing...that is if spring EVER gets here.

Last nights bike class was fun, we split up into teams and cheered each other on for some higher intensity stuff. At the end we did a progression, every 1-2 min we had to go up a gear (a gear harder) and maintain our cadence of above 90. Once you couldn't hold the cadence you were done. This was harder than I thought it was going to be. At first easy but by the 4th time you up a gear it starts to hurt a bit. I was soooo very close to getting to the big ring...maybe next time!!!

This weekend more swim, bike, run to be done!

Happy Training!

I had this dream

2009-03-24T11:14:00.002-06:00

I go through cycles of not sleeping well (I think everyone does!) and last night after swimming I finally fell asleep and I had a dream about Ironman. As per usual when dreaming everything was a little skewed but it went something like this; there were different organisers for IMC and they had us start by jumping into a fast flowing river which flow into okanagan lake and then we swam the usual course. They started the race early and I wasn't in my wetsuit yet so I had to jump in the river holding my wetsuit and then when we came out at the lake I was trying to put it on while I was wet...and giving the race directors hell for such a stupid race start...and then I woke up! Once I got back to sleep it went onto the bike, but I don't remember much of what happened after that. How random??

I have never had a triathlon related dream before!

Yesterday's run would have been great training if I was a trail runner. I was jumping forwards, sideways, you name it around all of the slush, puddles etc. A lot of where I was hadn't been shoveled and it was like running through mashed potatoes...I'm not kidding. It was a lot of fun, and I was very wet when I got back.

Last night at swimming Greg decided to torture me yet again with the same workout but this time starting with 400's going down to 100's with 4 x 25m fast in between. Not as bad as last time, but we also couldn't finish the workout due to lack of time...which could be why it wasn't as bad. For the set of the 300's I (tried) to hop onto Darryl and Greg feet and draft, they took turns leading and I held on for dear life. 300m goes by much faster when all you can focus on is keeping up with the feet in front of you and breathing!

Tonight is time trial. I missed the last one so it should be interesting to find out where I am at. With the new trainer I may have some gear shifting going on to find the right intensity! The nice thing about time trial is that it is only 20 min long...so it is over relatively fast!

Happy Training everyone!!!!

The last few days...

2009-03-23T09:26:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

Last Thursday I had a client no show me...and as I waited and waited for her to get there my window of time to run home and get my bike was decreasing rapidly. By the time I figured out that she wasn't coming there was not enough time for me to go home so I missed spin class:( That doesn't mean I didn't bike though! I toughed it out at home by myself and it is a lot harder when you don't have someone telling you EXACTLY what to do, and also you don't have other people there with you working hard and help you challenge yourself. Greg told me to do 2 x 30 min sets as a main set with a mix of hills, flat, downhill, etc. I remember looking at my watch at 15 min and thinking oh my god this is going to be a long workout. It felt like I was on the bike for 3 hours, it was good, but felt oh so very very long!

Friday all I did was walk the dog...very exciting I know!

Saturday I woke up feeling like total crap. I had to drag myself out of bed at 10:30 and I felt awful. After procrastinating for awhile I finally went for a run. I went for 75 min, once I warmed up a bit I felt surprisingly good, by the time I got home I was pooped. That could be due to the fact that Calgary's weather changes so rapidly. I started out with nice and warm sun, no wind and it regressed to cloudy, cold, and windy. I was expending a lot of energy trying to stay warm due to the fact I was dressed for weather situation #1. When I got home I had a shower and curled up in bed until Chad kicked me out saying that we were going to Costco with his parents!

Sunday morning I was going to go to rock climbing, then go to work, then bike at home, then go swimming. What actually happened was Chad looking in the back alley and telling me that I probably won't be able to get my car out....great. So no rock climbing for me, and I had a 2 hour ride scheduled and not enough time to do it and I decided to be lazy instead! I went to work and we were surprisingly steady all day. I did manage to order a new trainer for myself though...the order will be placed on Tuesday so in a couple of weeks Chad and I can spin away! I don't know why but when I work at the tech shop I am always tuckered out when I get home, after being lazy for awhile I started getting everything together to ride (which can take me a long time if I am tired). By the time I got on my bike it was 7pm and I was going to bike for 2 hours so Chad decided to go swimming early and I decided to push the swim over to Monday!

Today I am going for a run and going swimming! No rest for the wicked and for those who skip there scheduled workouts:)

I miss spring break...

2009-03-19T12:54:00.002-06:00

Hey Friends,

After talking to my sister last week and having a bunch of teachers come through my office I have come to the conclusion that everyone should still have spring break. A week or two that is not included in your holiday time to chill out and relax. Wouldn't that be nice???

I do like the warmer weather that we have been having lately, getting out for those runs in less layers is nice! Here is what I have been up to:

Monday - I went and bought a new trainer for Chad and I to share....we will need another one eventually but for now having something smooth and fluid to spin on is amazing. I also suck at putting things together as a threw a fit trying to put the wheel thingy on the new trainer....it was not a pretty sight.

Tuesday - Still sore...lats, quads, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, core...good times. Last weekend kicked my ass. Bike class was fun, we did the IMC course in 1 hour. It brought back a few memories thats for sure, everyone was chatting about their IMC experiences! There were 5 of us who went for a run, Leaha and I kept it nice and aerobic for 20 min after....my legs were hurting!

Wednesday - Still some residual soreness in my legs and back....what the eff did I do to myself???? I did an easy 30 min run; it feels like a charlie horse in my quad and I can't seem to hit it stretching. I was going to go on the rollar last night but forgot until right now! Swimming last night went well, longer easier sets this time...recovery from Sunday's swim! I have to admit I do cheat a little when Greg is not there (Greg you can stop reading now:). I tend not to fully warm up....sometimes I count the first part of the main set a warm up and then I might float around for a bit as a cool down...and then booker to the hottub!

Today I have my appointment with the Naturopath. I am also on a wait list to see a dermatologist. Hopefully some of this stuff can be taken care of! Tonight I have bike class and tomorrow's Friday...yay!!!

Running in the Moonlight

2009-03-16T13:26:00.002-06:00

Hey Guys,

Well I made it through the Moonlight Run; this race is always so fun and challenging! We started out the day late (as per usual with us) and not getting to Lethbridge until 3:45ish. We went straight to pick up our race packages and get our cozy moonlight run sweaters. Chad and I bet a pair of socks every year on what the colors of the shirts will be...somehow I always end up handing it over to him (by suggesting what color he should choose), alas I owe him another pair of socks!

After we got everything we headed out to a friends house for dinner. Since we were late, we had dinner late, and were almost late for the race....we do this every year too! So I am rushing to the start line with a full belly of yummy spaghetti (thanks Aimee:) trying to elbow my way up closer to the start. Everybody was jumping around to this crazy aerobic warm up thing they do every year, you should see it arms and legs everywhere! I made it through to the front without losing an eye and got ready to run.

This race starts out running down the coulee...2km down the coulee to be exact and then you run around the bottom and the 2 km back up the hill to finish. Unlike Chad I managed to avoid the road signs :):):) I was running as hard as I can down the hill weaving in and out of all of the people to the bottom. Once it flattened out and I didn't have gravity helping me out I started to feel the spaghetti making some noise. As I continued to run along I was burping like crazy...and every time hoping that it would only be a burp and nothing else...blah. After running in the pitch black I made it back to the hill...which seemed waaaay easier than previous years! So hear is how it turned out:

Time: 52:18, 1:02 minutes faster than last year.
Place: 15/69 in my age group
Overall: 163/567

I am curious as to how this race goes if I am not stuffed to the brim with food??? One year I will get it right!

I have been doing this race for 5 years, this was the second road race I ever did! In 2005 my time was 1:06:24...so I am getting there! Next goal is under 50 min for a 10 km run.

Yesterday we were up after not much sleep to go to rock climbing. We got in a few more climbs this time and learned some technique work. My legs were a little tired as they were shaking uncontrollably when I was up on the wall. I was getting some of the technique down because my lats are soooo very sore today!! As are my legs from running...I am hobbling around like I am 102 years old!

Last night swimming was hard. Greg was not my favorite person last night! We did 5 x 100m, 4 x 100m, 3 x 100m, 2 x 100m, 100m WITH 4 x 25m FAST in between each set. By the end I am sure my arms were not even coming out of the water! Looking at it doesn't seem so bad, but those 25m sprints did you in for the following 100's. I had to go over to the wussy edge to get out of the pool because lifting myself out onto the bulk head wasn't going to happen!

Since I still have a hard time walking I won't be running today:( It looks nice and sunny out too. I will be on the trainer tonight trying to spin out my legs!

Rexy's First Run!

2009-03-11T17:55:00.003-06:00

Hi Friends!

On Wednesday I went for a 40 min run along the river and then for my cool down I zipped home and got Rexy and took her out for a 10 min jog! At first she thought we were playing and she was jumping all over the place, but after a couple of blocks she settled in and even ran beside me for a bit! I won't be able to take her for a "run" until she is a year, but I wanted to start with little ones so she gets used to the idea.

By the time I got to swimming on Wednesday I was ready for bed. We got in the pool and did some 400's, building up the endurance a bit! Greg told me that my catch is looking better, its not a habit yet though because as soon as I don't think about it I resort back to my old ways!

Last night I had to fight traffic to make it to bike class. I got there and was on my bike for 5 min before we started warm ups! We did 3 x 20 min sets last night, but I got off easy and only had to do 2 since I am racing on Sunday!

The Moonlight Run is on Saturday night (10km)! So here is my race plan: I am a little worried because I missed a week of training....and that week of training was part of my run focus to get me a faster time for this race. On the other hand I have a year of high quality base under my belt which should help me get a better time.

Having said this I am going to go out there and be able to say at the end that I gave it my all, embrace the pain and see what happens. Last year I had a stellar race, so if all goes according to plan this year...it should be close. My time last year was 53:20! I am also going to reassess every 10-15 min on how I am feeling, I did this last year and it worked well! I will let you know how it turns out!

Happy Training!

No longer a WOWzer

2009-03-10T14:49:00.002-06:00

Hey,

So it is official I have made the switch...I am no longer a member of Work Out World (where Chad works). Last night we joined the Talisman center, it didn't make sense having a gym completely out of the way and one that doesn't have a pool in it??? We have been debating this for a long time, so we decided to join. I am sad to be leaving WOW, I made a lot of friends there but I am excited to have a new place to train that is 5 mins away from my house. This saves me about 30 min driving time just to go to the gym!

Having said that I ran for the first time ever last night on an indoor track. Better than the treadmill, but I will always prefer the great outdoors:) My workout was shorter than planned, but by the time we signed up I didn't have much time left. I warmed up (where Chad will be happy to say he passed me a million times) and then got a good solid 10 min of tempo in, that coupled with cool down and a few strides, I managed to squeeze in the important stuff!

My knees have started being a little sore again lately....stupid IT bands anyway. I need to stretch more! I get really lazy with this so I am going to put a solid effort in to start stretching again!

I am off to spin tonight, who knows what Greg has in store for us....what I do know is that I am not doing a brick in -30...Brrrrrr.

This girl can sleep...

2009-03-09T11:05:00.004-06:00

I tried to tell Chad yesterday that he sleeps more than me...but when I think about it we both are about even...maybe. I slept a lot this weekend; I fell asleep at around 12 on Friday (I know...BIG Friday night for me:), I had a nap on saturday, and 2 naps on Sunday! Where did this come from????

In and around all of this sleeping I did train. Friday I didn't train as it was my day off of training, but I did walk Rexy! I also made 3 doctors appointments and got my passport taken care of!

Saturday I was up early, at 8:30 to be exact. Rexy was ready to wake up and as she continued to figit...I could not sleep. So out of bed and cleaning house nice and early. I did get on my bike later in the day for a 90 min ride, which was oddly tough for an aerobic ride! I ran down to tri-it after, it took me about 30 min to get there and meet Chad who was buying some gear! Richelle helped us out and got him suited up for his upcoming triathlon season!

Sunday we were up early to go to rock climbing. Chad organised lessons for a group to go in and learn how to rock climb. I can tell you that my legs were fine...a few moments of burning, but my forearms are sooooo sore today. ouch ouch ouch. Opening doors has never been so tough! It was a lot of fun to do something different, I am looking forward to next week.

Last night we met up for a swim...I started the workout, but after a couple of bathroom breaks due to bowel issues Greg had me doing technique work! I was sooo happy to get into the hottub at the end to try and warm up with the rediculous weather we are having!

I did skip my long run yesterday, 90 minutes in the crazy ice wind we have had lately was too much even for me! I am not a fairweather runner by any means, but -30 is a little too cold even for me!

Which brings me to today. I am having a little bit of an internal battle trying to figure out what to do! Should I run outside, or maybe go across the city to the gym (a 20 minute drive in the snow for a shorter run), or ask Greg if I can bike in the comforts of my warm house??? Option number 3 is looking the best for me right now! I feel like I should run because we have the moonlight run on Saturday!!! First run of the year and hopefully it won't be snowing! My fingers are crossed for good weather.

Chugging along

2009-03-04T12:16:00.002-07:00

Hey guys,

Well I am on my way to recovery, I am no longer waking up in the morning counting down the hours until I go to sleep again! I think that is a step in the right direction.

On Monday I went for a 40 min run. It was at a nice and easy pace...my heart rate on the other hand was a good 20 beats higher than normal at that pace, but what can you expect. What was nice was spending some time outside in the sun! By the end of the day I was pretty tuckered out but I made it through.

Yesterday was my first spin class back at it and I am happy that it was aerobic. I think I was on the bike for a little shy of 90 min. My legs couldn't quite hold some of the cadence's (I don't know if thats a word?) I usually can and I forgot my heart rate monitor so I was riding blind! The music last night was interesting to say the least....not bad...but definitely interesting!

Today is a run and swim planned. I am supposed to do hill repeats...I may forgo those and just run a flat route. Tonight IG is back for swimming! Maybe no golfing tonight??? I don't think I will be that lucky;)

Have a gooder everyone!

Still alive...

2009-03-02T09:49:00.004-07:00

Hey guys!

On Thursday I thought I was getting better...key word thought! I had a nutrition seminar to go to that night and by the time I got home things were going downhill...very quickly.

I woke up on Friday morning dizzy, congested, and not able to talk. I went into work for 2 hours and then went home for the rest of the day. It was awful. I was laid out on the couch all day and all night. Chad went to Prelate, Sask (and if you don't know where that is that's okay....no one does:) with his dad and Rexy to visit his Grandma. So I was all by myself bachin' it for the weekend.

I woke up Saturday morning to my phone ringing over and over. Once I dragged myself out of bed it was Chad calling to tell me that Rexy had eaten yet another sock and was throwing up. The only thing I can figure is that she is getting them when I do laundry. So she was getting sick and not eating and in the middle of no where!

I have not trained now for 7 days...I can not remember the last time I went that long without exercise. I did walk the dog twice, that counts right??? I am going to go for a run today and see how that goes, I am on the mend...well hopefully anyway!

This weekend is the time change...yay...the days are getting longer and so we are that much closer to summer!

Coughs and sniffles

2009-02-25T12:51:00.002-07:00

Yes I have been full of the body aches, coughing, sniffling, headaches, everything that goes along with having a cold. Normally when I get sick I still train, push through, and end up being sick for 2 weeks instead of taking a few days off.

So THIS TIME I decided to listen to my body...chill out for a few days. I can feel it breaking up in my lungs already on day 3. It makes for a boring day with no training, but I think I will recover faster this way??

Also after I had that horrific swim on Sunday that was more than enough to let me know to rest instead of train. On the other hand I did get caught up on laundry and have been watching a lot of movies!

Stay warm my friends....Brrr....when is spring coming?????

Some days you have it, some you don't

2009-02-23T11:34:00.002-07:00

Hey Gang,

Thursday nights spin class went surprisingly well. My legs were pretty tired during warm up, but when we got going I was still able to bump it up and get the intensity to where it should be. This was our last MAP session for a bit so we (Clare and I) bumped it up a bit and managed to hang on until the end of class. I have found that I improved over the last month in doing these!

Friday Chad and I rented movies and chilled out for the night. I slept like the dead and woke up Saturday morning feeling better than I had in a long time. Once I got up and got Rexy organised I hopped on the bike for 1:45 followed by a 20 min run. The entire time I felt really good! The rest of the day was spent shopping on 17th with a girlfriend, going out for dinner, and watching more movies.

Sunday morning I felt like I was up a the crack of dawn to get my run in. I have never seen so many running groups in my entire life. I have been running in that area for 3 years and never seen so many people out....there were a couple of groups with 30-40 people in them! My run was not so great...it took me 45 min to feel normal...blah. I was very happy to be home at 90 min!

Nolan and I were busy at work on Sunday and when I got home I crashed for an hour...I love napping!

Swimming last night was tough. I felt like I was swimming through tar...my arms were not so happy. I suffered through the whole thing. I woke up this morning with a very big headache and a very sore throat. I hope I didn't catch my co-workers cold, because she has been sick for over a week!

Oh and in Rexy news she ate one of my gloves...not just any glove...one of those long ones that come up to your elbows...oh yeah. I caught her while she had the second one half way down. Get this, she pulled them out from a drawer. A couple of minutes later she had a sock...from the laundry hamper! Lucky for us she threw up the glove in the middle of the night. Oh the fun!

Sometimes I wonder....

2009-02-19T09:53:00.003-07:00

I know 2 blog posts in 2 days....amazing isn't it! Yesterday I woke up feeling like death, sooooo tired, sore throat (2nd morning with a sore throat), and a headache, all in all not a good way to start a day. Which brings me to my blog title; all of my clients are sick lately, so sick that they can't go to work BUT they still come in to see me. What the EFF???? Why oh why would you come in so you can give me your germs. In my personal opinion if you are too sick to go to work...you shouldn't be out running errands. On the other hand it is good that they come in for accountability, but I still don't want your germs. So I am hoping that my immune system is up to the challenge of fighting this off!

Once I finally dragged myself out the door for my run I managed to pull out a good one. I find what exercise does for your body amazing. I felt 100% better after I ran yesterday, even though my mean coach gave me 5 x 3 min intervals on a 2 min rest after doing intense MAP work on the bike the night before:):):) That's okay, nothing I can't handle....it went much better than the hill work after MAP intervals...that was a peel me off the pavement workout!

Last night for swimming I ate some not so good soup....and boy oh boy did I pay for it. My stomach was screaming at me. There was one point when Chad and I were at the wall and he asked me not to throw up on him! I did feel really good in the water last night though. After warm up (with NO golf...Yay!), we did 5x100m, with long rest, then 4x25 @ 95-100% effort and then a 500m time trial. I had never done a 500m TT so I wasn't sure what to expect in the end I went a little too easy...would have been a good pace for 1000m TT, but I finished in 9:30min.

Tonight I have spin class, more MAP work....all 2 min sets this time I think. Ouch ouch ouch!

Blog Slacker

2009-02-18T10:45:00.002-07:00

Hey,

I know I have been slacking at updating my blog, but when one gets busy it is hard to keep up. Last week was a good training week, well from what I can remember anyway.

The bigger news is that Chad signed up for the Calgary 70.3! I am super excited for him...someone has to be because he seems kind of indifferent about it right now! Maybe it is the holly shit stage where you are wondering why you just signed up for something like that. I know I felt that way after I signed up for Ironman!

Spin class has been going well, the MAP stuff seems to be getting better....still hurts...just a more conditioned hurt now! Last night was a gooder with short hard stuff at the end. Clare and I were the only brave ones to go for a run after, and it felt good!

Running has been good as well. I have noticed in the last couple months that I can pick up the pace a bit on my log runs without my heart rate going through the roof! It is always nice when you can see your training paying off!

Last weekend we went up to Edmonton, I am getting better every time I go up there;I get more workouts in. It is hard to get motivated to run outside at -20 sometimes! Visiting family is soo much easier....and warmer!

Today I have a run and swim on the agenda. Greg mentioned last night something about a time trial at swimming tonight....I hope he was just kidding about that!

Happy Training everyone!

This morning....

2009-02-09T10:59:00.003-07:00

I will start this story off by telling you that I am not much of a morning person. So much so that it takes me a couple of hours to feel "awake."

Rexy as you know is getting quite mischievous of late. I was in the shower this morning thinking to myself that she was being such a good dog...not trying to climb into the shower or anything. That was short lived. I looked out to see her with the roll of toilette paper....the one I had left within her reach because I was half asleep when I woke up....crap. There was toilette paper EVERYWHERE! So here I am running around the house...naked...soaking wet...shampoo in my hair...trying to get all of the pieces of toilette paper before she eats it all (then I would have another issue to deal with entirely:). Remember we live downtown with giant windows....what a good start to a Monday!

I had a relatively boring weekend, but a productive one! I managed to get my blood work done, had my landlord over to fix our closet, lots of time spent at the dog park, family dinners and the like.

Today I have a short run and swimming to get done....and hopefully some groceries. I am glad I spent a lot of time outside this weekend...the snow is supposed to come back tomorrow :(

Holy Crap

2009-02-06T11:32:00.002-07:00

I am tuckered right out. After Tuesday I thought the rest of the week's training wouldn't be quite as challenging...I was wrong.

Wednesday I went for my hilly run, not very hard to find hills considering I work in an area called North hill. It was a good challenge and left me with that very familiar leg acheyness(I don't think that is a word) I get, I suppose 60 min of continuous hills will do that to a person. By swimming that night I knew it would be a tough one to make it through. We were standing on the pool deck and Greg said only 60 minutes then you get to go to bed. With that thought I figured I had better get the party started. We did a very deceiving workout; after warm-ups and golf we did 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and back down. We were supposed to do 2-250's but I didn't understand the workout and by the time Greg explained in to me I was on my way back down and at 150...oh well. I think the water had extra resistance that night though, I could not get my arms to do what I wanted them to. I struggled my way through and was so happy when I got to go into the hottub afterwards. Ahhhh, Thursday spin class wouldn't be as tough as Tuesday right???

Wrongo. As soon as we did warmups at spin class and did the "easier" 15/15's (15sec fast, 15 slow) I knew we were in for a gooder. Last night MAP's weren't quite as bad for a couple of reasons: the first being I went into an easier gear so I could keep my cadence up where it should be, and the second was that we started out with the longer sets and they got shorter and shorter. I did better with not guzzeling water in between sets so I didn't feel like I was gonna heave this time around.

After I got home last night Chad and I took Rexy to the dog park, 30 min of walking was hard work. I think I have done a number to my legs this week and I am so happy all I have to do today is walk the dog!

There is more swimming, biking, and running to be done this weekend though.

Have a good weekend!

Ouch my legs....and lungs....

2009-02-04T11:07:00.002-07:00

On Monday I went for a run from work. I have heard everyone complaining about the roads, sidewalks and how bad it is everywhere in the city. I was right in there with everyone else, but a run in the NW on Monday showed me that downtown I have it easy. I think I should have brought my skates to go down the road. I was stepping very gingerly along the sidewalks on Monday. I can not believe the difference in the road conditions....suburbia has it way worse than I do! After I hopped, skipped, and jumped my way through the neighborhood I had a pretty good run.

Last night there was a pain train rollin' through tri-it and I was on it. We did our first workout with MAP intervals (max aerobic power). Ouch, ouch, ouch. The first set was 6x 1 min with 2 min rest. That wasn't too bad, I was able to keep my cadence above 100 no problem. It was the next set that was 5 x 1:30 that was awful. I think it was around the third set that I started to feel nauseous....you almost had your first puker Greg! My heart rate was reading 170....but it felt WAY harder than that, like 180 at least. During the 2 min of rest my heart rate didn't go back down below 150 bpm. By the end I could barely hold 90 cadence throughout the set! Afterwards I went for a transition run with Mark and Mark. They were taking it easy while I was givener to keep up to them. I made it the full 5km with them and went home to collapse on the couch. That was a burnin' workout.

Once I got home I realised we had no cable....we have had free for cable in like 3 years...took them awhile to figure that one out hey? So I layed on the couch with my feet propped up, Rexy laying on top of me, and stared at the ceiling. To tired to care to move. I was in this position for a good hour or so, until Chad came home to take Rexy for a walk and I went to bed!

My hilly run today should be fun and hopefully tonight we will do long slow sets in the pool with lots of pull! Next week should be interesting with the 2 min MAP sets....bring it on Greg!

Long time, no blog

2009-02-02T12:03:00.003-07:00

Wow, it has almost been a week since I updated last...that doesn't happen often!

This is Rexy chewing on my bike shoe...that thing was out if my gym bag for about 30 seconds before she grabbed it and ran away! Notice the chewed up water bottle in the background too!

Here's how last week went:

Tuesday: Time trial. I am not going to lie, it wasn't what I expected and didn't go the way I planned. First off I started in the wrong gear which led to me going why in the hell is my heart rate so high and why am I pedaling so slow....hmmm. It only took me a few minutes to figure that out. Once I did it didn't get any better. Man o man it was a tough one. I couldn't get my legs to go fast enough. Oh well, live and learn. I did have the sweat drips rollin though, holly crap. we were about 3/4 of the way through and I was so focused I didn't even notice Greg standing there trying to check what my heart rate was at!

Wednesday: I woke up to some very very tired legs. I rolled myself out of bed....way too late and ran around to get to work on time. I got to work and after about an hour I called my co-worker to see where she was. Yeah not coming in....thanks for the heads up! The rest of the day was crazy busy, I hardly got a chance to eat, missed my run, and no one else was really a team player that day.

I made it to my swim that night (after I had a nap:) and tried my very best to convince everyone to go for a drink. I almost had them, but then Chad and Greg jumped in the pool. After standing there for a couple of minutes (and watching Darryl jump in), I eventually jumped in and worked out some of my frustration from the day.

Thursday: I left in the afternoon to get my run in that I missed. It was awesome; although it was freaking windy for the first half I was having a great time. The last 20 min of my run I had to change pace every 2-3 min. This combined with working on my leg turnover; I felt like I was tearing up the trails. There were times I may have bumped it up a little too much, as I could hardly breathe...but it was awesome. That is one reason why I do all of this training, because when you have training sessions like this it all becomes worth it!

That night I had a nutrition talk to go to so I missed spin class and I didn't get home until after 9pm...by that time I was too pooped out to get on the trainer.

Friday: I went to the doc to see what is going on and why I am so tired/feeling crappy. Lets just say he didn't tell me anything I hadn't figured out on my own. He said I may be slightly anemic and I just need to rest more. I find this amazing. He didn't ask me ANYTHING about my lifestyle, eating habits, stress, work, etc. I have IBS and Eczema, both of which have been really inflamed lately. He rushed me in and out of there and that was that, I was in there for 5 mins....just long enough for him to check my blood pressure. He wouldn't tell me what it was when I asked and told me it was "fine." I have to go and get blood work done, which he will probably tell me to "rest" again and toss me out the door.

I understand that we don't have enough health care professionals, but I don't think that it should be allowed not to hear people out. Usually when people have multiple symptoms, they are being caused by one thing. So instead of me having 5, 5 min appointments, lets do one 15-20 min one and figure out what the hell is going on and then I won't be back again. Does this make sense??? I know it has to do with billing, blah, blah, blah. While you are doing the usual stuff in there can't you hear what else the patient has to say at least to make the diagnosis easier????? Okay, I am done my rant about the health care system. Maybe it is because I had the same small town doctor for 20 years and he always addressed the issue and got it dealt with.

Anyway, my weekend was good. I biked, ran, and swam. All of them were good quality training, and nothing too eventful happened! Chad did swim 3.8 km so I am trying to convince him to do a half this summer....I may need some help with that one!

Have a great week of training everyone!

Boise 70.3 here we come....

2009-01-27T11:44:00.002-07:00

We are all booked and ready for Boise. I know that it isn't until June, but Chad is a bit of a holiday planner and so we are good to go. What is really cool though is that we are going to swing into Wyoming on the way down and stay at Yellowstone National Park. We are pretty pumped about that!

I finally booked a doctors appointment....so we will see what the good ole doc has to say.

Lastly, we have time trial tonight....always brings on a good sense of what hurts....oh and I ran last night for 45 min....on the treadmill....which I hate....longer days need to come faster. :)

Sleepy Weekend

2009-01-26T12:31:00.002-07:00

Hi Gang,

I definitely caught up on sleep this weekend. I wish I was one of those people who didn't need a lot of sleep, but I am. Everyone tells me as I get older my need for sleep will go down....there has been improvement but I still require a lot.

Friday after work Rexy and I got home (she comes to work with me on Fridays) and both hit the couch hard. We slept until around 8pm...we got up...I fed her...she went back to sleep:) Turns out visiting people all day is tough work for a puppy.

Saturday I got up and did some house work and then hopped on my bike. At first I thought the workout would drag on, but once I got into my sets I was fine. I did 90 min with a 20 min run afterwards...outside....brrrr! I think it took me 10 min to change my clothes and put on enough layers so I wouldn't freeze out there. All and all it was a good workout.

Later on Saturday we met up with Nathan and Jasper at the dog park. Rexy looked pretty funny running around in booties and a jacket but the poor little girl doesn't have a lot of hair. Chad FINALLY broke down and agreed with me that she needs the jacket when it is cold outside....even though she looks stupid. We ended off the day with a family dinner and then we rented a movie a both fell asleep on the couch.

Sunday I was reluctant to get up so I took Rexy out and then stuck her back in her kennel and it was back to bed for me. Every once in awhile I would hear squeeking....she managed to get a toy into her kennel and the squeek, squeek, squeek began. Chad of course heard nothing!

Since it warmed up to around -10 I didn't have to bust out as many layers for this run. I was toasty warm the entire time until about 10 min from home I was out of the sun and my damp gloves made my hands so freaking cold! I did 90 min, still trying to increase my leg turnover but I wasn't nearly as focused so I don't think I did a very good job. It was also pretty icy and there was a lot of snow so in some places I had to step carefully!

We met up with Nathan and Jasper again at the dog park and there were doggies EVERYWHERE!! Rexy was having a fine time, especially since it was so nice out. She did get caught up with a bunch of dogs and then Chad had to go and chase her down!

I tried my best to get out of going swimming last night. I was tired from my run and I wanted to be lazy again...or go to a movie. If we didn't have to meet Darryl at the pool I don't think either Chad or myself would have made it to the pool last night! Anyway, I managed a 45 min swim with some 100's, some 200's, some drill, some pull.

Today I have to cook up some meals for the week, run, weights, and walk the Rex-dog. Hopefully if I have more time put some new tunes on my IPOD...I don't think I can handle another workout with the 20 songs I have on there!

Tied Up In Knots

2009-01-22T10:20:00.002-07:00

Ooooooooh my back is tight tight tight. It is back to massage time of year that is for sure.

Alrighty. My digestive system is not quite back to normal, so I have had a few issues in the last couple of days. This has not kept me from training though. On Monday I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. What I learned here is that doing strides on the tready is really hard to do. After awhile I gave up and just ran....this is why outside is so much better. I just keep telling myself that everyday is getting longer and I will be able to run outside after work soon!

On Tuesday there was spin class. Greg was really trying to get us working. We did more sets of hill/speed combinations BUT this time he added in some single leg drills after the sets. Oddly enough I found it not too bad....don't get me wrong it was still a challenge, especially the 90 sec ones but not as bad as I anticipated it being!

Yesterday I went for a 50 min run outside and it was AMAZING! It was sooo nice outside, a little bit of wind, and the sun was shining....glorious! I started working on my running cadence; this was interesting. I warmed up for 10 min and then started in with trying to pick up leg turnover. I was doing little drills, like counting my strides between light posts, thinking about light feet, that kind of thing. At first it was really awkward but by the end I was into a groove. I thought that my heart rate would be though the roof, but it was just a little higher than normal.

Last night I met up with Darryl and Greg at the pool. This was my first actual "workout" because I have mostly been doing drills and stuff. I could tell the difference that is for sure. I felt good in the water last night though. I could even hop on Darryl's feet a couple of times to get a bit of a draft...nice.

Tonight is spin class again. I bugged Greg to tell me what we are doing but he wouldn't...so I started guessing. I got part of it and all I am going to say it that it should be a gooder....I wouldn't want to ruin it for everyone!

Tomorrow is my day off....ahhhh...and then I have a quiet weekend ahead of me which I am ready for.

BIG News....

2009-01-20T12:54:00.002-07:00

I totally forgot to tell everyone yesterday......GUESS WHAT CHAD SAID: He wants to do Ironman Arizona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right the words came out of his mouth, I heard it. Ha ha ha. All of that harassment has paid off guys!

I figured it out....

2009-01-19T11:21:00.003-07:00

Hi friends,

Well with much reflection over the past week I have figured out why I am having a hard time fitting my training in. Normally my training is a top priority and everything else I want to do moves around it. Lately I have been trying to get everything else done prior to my training and alas I end up very frustrated due to missing workouts.

I know it happens, but when it happens all of the time I get frustrated. I am now focused and my training has moved up on the priority ladder, it will never be number 1 but it needs to be higher than it has been in the past month.

I got my new training schedule from Greg and he has put a little more focus on running, so I have some intervals, hills, cadence work to do over the next couple of weeks. Maybe we can get these little legs of mine running faster!

On another note I think I am going to make a Doctors appointment to get some blood work done. I have been feeling more tired than usual and my blood pressure keeps getting lower and lower. I hate getting blood taken....so I have been procrastinating this for awhile!

Oh and Rexy has discovered shoes.....

Have a great week guys!

I've got this funny feeling in my legs...

2009-01-15T10:23:00.002-07:00

Hey guys,

Well I can tell that I am back into the swing of my training....I have this familiar feeling in my body (my legs mostly) ....they are letting me know that I am using them. I only did 3 training sessions in total last week, it is amazing how quickly the body comes back from that.

Tuesday night after class was when the leg ache really set in. Greg seems determined to kick our asses back into shape after the Christmas hiatus. I was feeling really good during warm ups and the first 4 sets went really well. After the fifth set I remember saying"man that was hard" and then the sixth set came and my legs were like jello. I think that in part in may be due to the fact that Greg wasn't riding that night...you know what that means....I had my personal gear shifter. Every time I say this Chad gives me this look like he doesn't think it was that hard. I think it is time for him to eat his non existent words and come to class again.

On Wednesday I could still feel the post spin ache, normally it is gone by the next morning. I was dreading my run; it was snowing like crazy, my legs were tired, and on Sunday when I ran my heart rate was all over the place. I layered up and headed out looking like the michelin (sp?) man in tights...if you can picture that. To my surprise my run was great. I felt good, I was toasty warm, AND my heart rate was the best it has been since last summer. Are you ready for the numbers Greg.....128-134 was where I hovered for most of my run....and when I was in the 120's I wasn't going down hill:):):) What the????

Wednesday night I met Chad and Darryl at the pool. Chad had jumped in and was swimming away while Darryl and I stood on the edge talking about how the air temperature affects how you perceive the temp of the water. In case you are not a swimmer the worst part of the swim is jumping into a freezing cold pool. I HATE HATE HATE getting in the water....it doesn't matter if it is - 20 or +20 outside.....it feels friggin frosty either way.

I eventually got in and started swimming and I can honestly say that it felt good last night. My swimming arms are coming back to me. I was able to do 200m-400m sets, I know that's not very long but last week I could only do 100m at a time! I did a whole 2 km last night...whoa!
Mostly drills and pull, but I was in the water and moving forward so it counts! Get this, Chad and Darryl got out to go to the hot tub and I stayed in to get my full 60min of swimming in. I never thought the day would come.

I have been reading everyone's blog, I think this is such a good way to motivate yourself and see what other people are doing. It is nice to know that everyone has the highs and lows....and that I'm not the only one. I only read a couple of pro's blogs but sometimes I am amazed at how much they train and what their body's can do. I have been reading Bree Wee's blog and she is in Canada for a training camp (her blog is neat because she just finished her first year as a pro), anyway they were doing 6km to 7.5 km swims. Holly crap that's a long time to swim. They are doing 3 workouts per day, granted this is their job and I do it for fun....but still it is neat to see how much elite athletes train to get to where they are.

Anyway, I have spin class tonight. My legs are tired but I know they are ready for a spin. Oh I forgot to mention that my bike time on Tuesday was 2:05....first ride over 2 hours since Ironman!

New goals....

2009-01-13T15:43:00.002-07:00

Hey!

My goal for this week is to do all of my scheduled workouts! Normally this isn't a problem.....but in the last month I feel like I just can't get there.

I finally added the pics of Rexy....she gained 2 kg in 2 weeks! Whoa! We had to take her to the vet on Monday because she has an ear infection, so now we have ear drops and ointment for her which she loves....which really means we have to wrestle her to the ground, and hold her mouth shut so she won't make a chew toy out of my arms! Funny story though; last night I was laying on the couch with stomach pain (more on that later) and I hear this gross sound....she was throwing up. Since she hadn't had dinner yet I was a little confused. Up comes this slimy thing out of her that does not resemble food of any kind. I look a little closer and I see a Nike check....hmmmm. Yeah she swallowed my sock sometime that morning and since she couldn't digest it up it came. Lovely. I still have no idea where she found that sock!

Back to training. On Sunday I went for an 80 min run in the gorgeous weather. I wish it was spring for real. I was pooped after that, but I sucked it up and made it to the pool. Once I started going it was not too bad but getting myself there was hard!

Yesterday I managed to get my run in, but the weights were not happening. To add to my never ending battle my IBS has flared up again and now I have that to contend with. It is better today but I am getting tired of eating toast and smoothies. After spin class tonight I am going to make some minestrone soup and beets to make my digestive track feel better.....yummmmm.

Happy training everyone!

Pictures

2009-01-13T13:43:00.001-07:00

Onwards and Upwards

2009-01-09T10:46:00.002-07:00

Hey bloggers,

My body seems to be on the mend, I still can't eat a lot.....or any meat for that matter but I am getting better.

Last night I went to spin class and Greg worked us out pretty good. We did more sets of hard gear/low cadence then switching to low gear/high cadence or vice versa. I actually felt better after training.....and hungry too!

Tonight I may hit the pool for a quick swim. Fridays are usually my days off, but so to the lack of exercise this week I am going to get into the freezing cold, stinky chlorine water. Chad did get me a special body wash for Christmas that is supposed to help with the removal of chlorine from the skin!

I am pumped that it is supposed to warm up for awhile....mostly so that we can take our little monster out of the house because otherwise she has waaaay too much energy and then we have to deal with the consequences!

Here are some stories for you Shannon!

- I have never in my life had a dog that LOVES peanut butter (the only human food we give her) as much as she does. She will hear the pantry open (that perks her up) and if she hears silverware noise she is on me like a bee to honey! She will NOT leave me alone, I usually dip a spoon in and let her lick it out....but she isn't very good at it so she will have PB all over her face, my clothes, the cupboards, dishwasher....you name it!

- She has learned that if she jumps on things she can get closer to whatever it is we take away from her. I will try and get a picture of her doing this; she climbs onto the couch....then onto her crate which is behind the couch and then try to get onto the counter to get the peanut butter or whatever else she can.

- Her other favorite game is laundry. She will follow us around grabbing random socks, shirts, whatever she can and then runs and runs and runs until we can get ahold of her to get it back. We have a few random holes in our clothes now!

- What a life change she has been. The other night I was cleaning the bathroom and had to do it with one hand on her and the other to clean....because she licks EVERYTHING that she isn't trying to chew!

- oh and she loves armpits.....especially if you have just workout....very hard to do anything when your dog will not leave your armpits alone!

Tonight we are going to bath her (well shower with her is more like it:), clean her ears, clip her nails and then we will take some updated pics. Not that in a picture you will be able to tell that her ears are cleaner!

Have a great weekend everyone!

BLAH

2009-01-07T17:20:00.003-07:00

It has been a crappy couple of days. Remember I said I went out to dinner at the Keg on Sunday night.....yeah I got food poisoning.

I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty nauseous. That feeling didn't go away...I did manage to get a banana and PB sandwich down though....good thing too. By 4:00 I had to call the rest of my clients and cancel them so I could go home.

Then the fun began....12 hours of throwing up. Booo. I still can't eat, everytime I do I feel sick. I have managed a smoothie and banana so far today. Needless to say I have been doing much of anything, I did make it to work today though....it is a good thing I sit and talk to people all day!

Hopefully I will be back at it by tomorrow....for tonight I will be hanging out at home...yet again!

Like a Fish......not quite!

2009-01-05T12:32:00.003-07:00

Hi Friends!

It has been another busy weekend for moi. Saturday started out early, I heard Rexy moving at around 9:00am.....which seemed early because I was up until 2am on Friday! We lazed around in the morning, had a little nap and then I stuck her in the bedroom with Chad to get him up for the day! It works like a charm....had I known this we may have got a dog ages ago!

We went and did some errands, stopped by at Tri It to do some post Christmas shopping! Chad got a new cycling jacket and I bought a new swim suit (see below). After that we went home so I could get a bike in before we headed to Allan and Karen's visit and introduce the dogs!

Sunday was chaotic. I was awake at 8:00 am.....which is awful for a Sunday. After tossing and turning for awhile I accepted I wasn't going back to sleep. I headed out for my run just before 10:00; the weather network said -8 with little to no wind....liars. The way I dressed I should have been toasty warm for those weather conditions, but it felt waaaaaay colder than that. I was frozen by the time I got home. I was out there for about 70 min and totally bitter that I wasn't curled up where it was warm with a good book! I made it home and had a hothothot shower and then I had to go to work at the tech shop.

We were ridiculously busy all day....turns out people like to shop after Christmas! Once I got home from work we met up with Chad's cousin Johnny and his girlfriend Chyndelle for dinner. We took care of (well actually Chad took care of) Johnny's place over the holidays so he treated us to dinner at the Keg. Chad and I were going swimming after so we had to be careful with what we were eating!

This was my first "official" program swim for me....that's right I actually have to swim more than once per month now. It went okay, I always feel awkward for the first couple of swims until I get back into the groove. Greg watched me a bit and gave me some technique stuff to work on....I have a rebellious right arm! I only did like 1200m in 45 min...there may have been some chatting and a lot of resting!

I have a good week ahead of me. I found last week hard because I worked for a couple of days, then off, work, off, work, off....it is hard to get into routine with that kind of schedule!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T10:26:00.002-07:00

Hey,

It has been an uneventful few days. We have been keeping it pretty quiet around the house, not doing too much.

For New Years we watched the Canada vs US hockey game and went out to the keg for dinner which is always yummy!

Training wise, I went to the gym last Monday to run and do weights and I had an awesome workout. I did these balancing lunges with the bosu ball and holly crap my quads were sore for 3 days....only using body weight! I hadn't done them in about a year....I forgot how much they hurt! I have done a couple of rides on the trainer this week, not as intense as in class but I was sweating it up regardless! Today I am going to squeeze in my run that I missed on Wednesday.

This weekend I have a run, bike and swim to do. That's right is is January and time to stop slacking in the pool. A little birdie must have told Greg that my swim time hasn't changed in 3 years....hmmmm wonder who that was. Needless to say I think I am in for it in the pool this year.

Onto another topic....we went to see Marley & Me last night and if you own or have owned a dog you should watch this movie. I swear the beginning of that movie has been our life for the last month! There were a few parts that had us laughing pretty good. There is a cry warning on this one though!

Other than that there are no new years resolutions for this chickie.....I am going to try and cook dinner more though. Who likes to cook after work and training???? Not me. I don't like to cook at the best of times!

Have a great weekend!