Kelownagurl's Blog

Weekly Update

2012-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Training

I had a pretty successful week of training and got all my workouts in, with a few minor adjustments. It was a miserable week of weather with a severe cold snap that gave us highs of -14C to -18C (0F), wind, and snow, and a wind chill of -30C. Needless to say, I did my two weekday runs on the treadmill.

Mon - Trainer for 60 min
Tues - Treadmill for 45 min and 3X12 reps on 7 upper body machines.
Wed - Unplanned rest day - tired. Decided to ride trainer on Friday.
Thur - Treadmill 45 min and 3X12 upper body weights again
Fri - Trainer 60 min
Sat - 90 minute run outside
Today - I'm heading to the gym in a while to swim and do all weights.

By yesterday, the cold snap had broken and although we had a dump of snow on Friday night, I drove down to Gyro Park to run along Abbott and the boardwalk. It was pretty messy and slow going until I hit the bike/walk path which had been ploughed and then it was easier, although a little slippery which slowed my overall pace. The air temperature was a balmy 0C so the run itself was quite lovely.

Since the previous week's run had only been an hour (instead of the planned 75 min), I was making a fairly big jump so ran easy and took planned one minute walk breaks every 20 minutes or so. In addition, I had to walk frequently when moving back and forth from the road to sidewalk in some sections where the sidewalks had not been cleared.

My Newtons are pretty useless in snow because of poor traction and open mesh in the uppers so I wore my Pearl Izumi Peak XC trail shoes. They have much better traction and are very comfortable but my shins are a little sore today because I haven't worn these shoes for a long time and my legs don't like switching shoes very much. I'm hoping that I'll feel fine for my short runs this week. If not, I'll only do one mid-week run.

This upcoming week has some challenges that will force me to move my workouts around somewhat because I have after-school appointments on Tuesday and Thursday which are my usual running days. I'm going to try to move my runs to Mon/Wed but I'll to wait and see how my legs feel on Monday. If they're still sore, I may do the elliptical instead and only run on Wednesday. Tuesday will have to be my rest day because I'm busy all day right up until I get home at 9:30pm. Other that than, I plan to ride the trainer for an hour 2 nights this week and hit the gym for upper body work once of twice.

Strength Work

I've been pretty dedicated to using the new machines at the gym for the past 5-6 weeks and I've been showing some progress and starting to feel stronger. I've been able to increase the weight on all of the machines at least once since I started. The struggle has been with the lower body workouts. I found that if I do lower body weight training on the same day that I run, I am sore for several days after and have trouble doing my next run. If I do lower body weights on alternate days, I'm still sore the next day and it affects my run (and no, the weights are not too heavy).

I tried something different this week - since I was the the gym for the treadmill anyway, I did all of the upper body machines right after my run so that I was at least getting strength work in. Today, my plan is to do all the machines after my swim as usual, which includes the single and double leg press, walking lunges, step ups, and leg extensions. Since my legs are a little sore from my run yesterday, I'm hoping today's workout doesn't further impact my upcoming runs. I keep hoping I will get to a point where I will have built up my strength enough that a workout will not have a serious affect on my running. It just goes to show how weak I am in some areas of my hips/glutes.

Diet

My diet sucked this week. I was too busy/lazy to record my calories and subsequently my diet suffered. I tried to eat reasonable portions and stay away from crap but there were several times when I made bad choices. All it takes is an extra 100-200 calories a day to mess up my weight loss plan and I suspect when I weigh in tomorrow, I'll be up a half pound, instead of down a full pound.

Therefore, I'm committed to counting calories all week, and in addition, I'm going to cut back my cals another 100 per day to 1500 since it looks like even with training 45-60 minutes a day, 1600 calories is maintenance, not weight loss. Eating only 1500 calories a day will be hard for me but I can do it.

For the past 2 weeks, I've planned out the week day dinners and have done all my shoppoing and food prep on Sunday. I've found this has REALLY helped keep my organized and on track. I've been recording what we have for dinner each night on my iCloud calendar so now it's nice to look back to get ideas for the upcoming week.

And so another week begins - I hope your training is going well!

Sugoi Versa Jacket Review

2012-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Last year, I was in the market for a new, lightweight, water and wind resistant jacket for running and cycling. Naturally, I checked out what Sugoi had to offer in that department and immediately became enamored with the Versa jacket. Apart from being a great jacket, it also quickly transforms into a vest with the very cool bolero style arms that quickly detach and re-attach with little magnets sewn right into the jacket itself. I can't believe how simple it is to put them on or take them off - they practically reconnect by themselves - seriously, no exaggeration.

This video I snagged from the Sugoi website, shows how easily the sleeves come off and then pop into the back pocket.

So often, I head out for a run feeling chilly and then only 15 minutes in, I'm wishing I'd worn a vest instead. With this jacket, I am able to quickly pull the sleeves off and tuck them into my back pocket while I run. Other times, I've headed out in the vest and then slipped the sleeves on when I reached the wind by the lake. Either way, they work great!

Another thing I love about the jacket is that it has two pockets in front and one bigger one (cycling style) in the back. I find this great for running and cycling. (I love pockets...)

They really pay attention to details at Sugoi as well. Here are a few more features of the jacket.

* Mesh ventilation for maximum airflow
* Reverse coil separating zip with guard
* 2 comfortable front zip pockets
* 1 zip back pocket
* Dual adjustable shockcord
* Contrast elastic bound armhole
* 3M Reflective piping on front, side and back for added visibility

I've been wearing this jacket through an entire set of seasons now and have found it useful for many situations, even light rain or snow. My only request now is that they make the next version with the back a little longer for cycling. When I mentioned this to Sugoi, they happily told me they'd take the suggestion to their designers.

At $120 (Canadian), I think this versatile jacket is a great buy, and now my only problem is trying to decide what colour my next one will be. :)

Marathon Mindset

2012-01-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

I was recently reading an article that erin337 had posted on her facebook page about the importance of being emotionally ready to run a marathon. Here's a link to the entire article called "Why You Should Fear the Marathon."

In the article, writer Tess Zevenbergen writes:

"Not only is running 42.2 km (26.1 miles) physically and mentally taxing, it requires one to dig deep and pull out of themselves everything they possibly can. The tricky thing is, if you don’t believe you can do it, you probably won’t."

Then she goes on to describe the physical and mental challenges of running a marathon. But it's that line "If you don't believe you can do it, you probably won't" that scares me. How can I convince my head that I really can run a marathon?

It's not that I don't think I have the stamina - I've certainly had my share of long, stressful, physically challenging days and I really can't imagine it being a whole lot more mentally challenging than my first half ironman a few years ago when I started the 21.1 km run knowing I was going to have to limp through the entire thing with an ITB that had locked up on the bike. But I suffered on and finished it, fighting a body that was screaming at me to pack it in for most of the last 3 hours of that seven and a half hour race. And with any luck, my marathon will be shorter, right? :)

I think I can do this. In fact, I pretty sure I can do this.

I'm really looking forward to the day when I can honestly say I KNOW I can do this.

*********************************

Here's a funny video of a guy who tells us what he's thinking at various points of his marathon.

Tri-Ripped

2012-01-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I just want to take a moment to write a short post about Ben Greenfield's latest product - Tri-Ripped (and if you haven't checked out his podcast, look for it on itunes - lots of interesting interviews and training and nutrition information). Ben offered me a copy to review and gave me the opportunity to be an affiliate, so if you are interested in the program, click through my site to get more info and/or order it and you will also be helping to support the Kelownagurl Media Empire (as Chad from the Candotri Podcast likes to call it, haha...)

I've taken a look at the digital version of Greenfield's program, which is about 290 pages long, and from what I can see, it looks pretty complete with an 8 month triathlon training program that includes the sport specific strength workouts to help you look as good as you feel. He has lots of good colour photos of all the exercises in the back of the book, and also throws in a booklet with supplement info, a training log, and a CD with some audio info. What seems to be missing is a video although he provides links to facebook support and youtube videos.

This is definitely a vanity program, and is certainly not for everyone (particularly beginners), but if you want to look a little more 'ripped', it might be be something to check out. I don't know how the price compares to other, similar programs, and at $97 for the digital version, it's a bit pricey IMO. But if money is no object and you're looking for something new to try for 2012, check it out.

Here's how Ben describes his program.

"So how is Tri-Ripped any different than popular fitness programs like GymJones, Crossfit, P90X, Beach Body Insanity and other trendy workouts that some triathletes are ineffectively trying to use and meld with triathlon training?

The answer is simple: those programs were designed for the general fitness enthusiast - and then somebody realized they could make money by selling these programs to triathletes, so they twisted, torqued and warped the program in a failed attempt to make it somehow work with triathlon training.

But in the end, every single one of these popular fitness programs started for the average gymgoer, not the triathlete.

In contrast, Tri-Ripped was written by a seasoned triathlete, for triathletes. It started with the pure premise that you are a triathlete, you will be swimming, cycling and running, and if you want to have a nice body, your program needs to combine triathlon training with a unique style of cross-training that can make you sexy as hell.

So rather than “fighting” a program like Crossfit, or Beach Body, or anything else, and frustratingly trying to “make it work” for your swimming, cycling and running, you can now simply waltz straight to Tri-Ripped and have it all beautifully laid out for you and ready for you to dive right in with zero guesswork."

So there ya go - I have not tried any of the workouts yet, but I am going to play around with it a bit and see what I think. I'll let you know.

If you want more info, click on one of the links below. Have fun!

Tri-Ripped Hard Copy or Digital Version

Staying Motivated

2012-01-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

I have a bunch of motivational quotes up on Pinterest (follow me if you like), so lately I've been reading through them every morning, and keeping them in my mind all day long as I try to make good choices about eating and exercise. I REALLY find it helps me. If you find quotes that resonate with you, consider typing them up, printing them off, and putting them in places that you'll see all day. It may help.

Here are a few of my current favourites. Some inspire to stick to the healthy eating plan and others inspire me to get out the door and do my run, or bike, or strength workout when I'm tired or lazy. Maybe some of them will strike a chord for you.

On getting started...

The choices are not always easy, but the benefits are worth it.

Don't make excuses.......

Too busy to exercise?

Fall off the wagon?
Get back on!!

Believe in yourself!

It takes hard work.

And when you're reaching for that bag of chips,

Remember this ------------------------>

And if, like me, you don't necessarily like the word "skinny" - then change it to "fit".

"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels."

I love this one - says it all... :)

So - today - set up your plans for the week and be pro-active. Plans your meals, do your shopping, figure out solutions for days you know it may not be easy to fit in a workout or a healthy meal.

Have a great week!

Struggling Along

2012-01-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

When the going gets tough, the tough eat old candy canes.

Yeah, so I had a small lapse, but over all it's been a good week. On Sunday, I planned meals for the week - stuff the boys would like to eat but I could still adapt to my 'diet'. I've been trying not to go too extreme since I am hoping to workout 6 days a week.

To lose 1 lb a week, I need to eat about 1300 calories a day. Instead, I'm trying to stick to about 1600 a day to compensate for the calories I burn through exercise. It worked the first week - we'll see if I can lose another pound this week. I'm half way through the week already and the scale hasn't budged yet. We'll see.

Monday was a bad day at work and I came home and had a G&T (with diet tonic - only 73 cals in total ;). However, I ate well and stayed within my limits. I was too bagged to do my trainer ride so Monday's workout was a wash.

Tuesday, I ate well all day and did a 45 minute hill run with friends after school.

Wednesday - I did pretty well with the diet all day, I went to the gym after school and did an adapted strength workout, then came straight home and rode the trainer for an hour. We had tacos for dinner but I was SO hungry, I had to eat two. Plus I got cranky when I had to clean up last night's dishes and take out the garbage before I could cook dinner (while still in my workout clothes), so when I craved sugar after dinner, I caved in and ate 2 stupid candy canes. It's really amazing how much I wanted those damn candy canes. The stupid plastic wrapper sticks so tightly that it's nearly impossible to get it off to eat the candy. But I persevered. I'm tough like that. ;) That meant my calorie count was up over 2000 for the day. Thank God, I worked out for an hour and 45 minutes. :)

Today, I ate well all day and managed to keep from eating the cheezies and cinnamon buns at work today. I didn't even sneak a teeny piece. Then after work, I squeezed in a 30 minute run while my son was getting his hair cut. I'm glad I kept it short and slow because my legs are tired and sore from Tuesday's run. I'm icing my shin now in fact. When I got home, it was cold (it's -3C today) so I climbed into a hot bath and almost dropped my book in the tub when I started falling asleep. I need a good night's sleep tonight I think.

So I'm trying hard to eat more protein, good fats, only low glycemic carbs (veg and fruit), and very little, if any, potatoes/rice/bread/sugar. I still take cream and sugar or honey in my coffee but that's about it for sugar.

So that's it for now. Oh, and I think I've come up with a new motivational quote,

When you crave, don't cave.

Yeah.

Down one pound, hurrah!

2012-01-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

The week ended well - I did all my training as planned, managed to stay within reasonable limits even on Friday's steak and wine night, and lost one pound since last Monday! :)

Friday was a rest day from training but my legs recovered really well from Thursday's hilly run and I was feeling great. On Saturday, I did my long run - 11:25 km in 1:15 - and felt good but tired after. Sunday, I went to the gym and rowed for 30 minutes, then did a full strength workout plus some of my PT glute med. exercises.

I'm trying to find the right balance in my strength workouts so that I'm not too sore for the next few days, which affects my runs. If I do the strength stuff and include my step ups and walking lunges, it takes several days for my glutes to recover so I end up only hitting the gym once a week. This week, I tried cutting it back slightly and will hopefully be able to do another gym workout on Wednesday without affecting Thursday's hill run. We'll see.

So anyway, it's Monday and I officially weighed in to the 10 in 10 Challenge so hopefully I can stay on the straight and narrow all week and lose another pound by next Monday. I did my meal planning and most of my shopping and I've upped my protein and stuck with fruit and veg carbs for the most part. It seems to be working.

I guess that's all for now. By the way, I'm going to be helping with some of the social media for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon this year so if you feel like it, hop on over to their blog and give it a follow. I'm hoping to do some regular updates between now and the race. In addition, I'm tweeting for them and doing some updates to the facebook group. Thanks for your support!

Not a bad day

2012-01-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

I ate pretty well today, struggled through the evening cravings by eating half a bag of low fat popcorn and one piece of dark chocolate.

Throughout the day, I ate lots of fruit and veggies, kept my protein and good fat up (no bad fats at all), my carbs were bit high but it was all fruit and veggies, no bread or starch, and only a little white sugar in my coffee this morning. I'll try honey tomorrow.

Calories: 1850 (a bit high but I did run today so it's all good.)

Fat: 42 g (19%, too low)
Carbs: 281 g (58%, higher than planned)
Protein: 106 g (22%, OK but a bit lower than I'd like right now )

I went for a hilly run after work and felt pretty darn good. First decent after-school run in a long time. I was surprised my pace was as good as it was, it didn't feel like I was running very fast especially with all the hills. (250+ feet of gain over abt 5 miles)

I ran 7 km in 45 minutes and then walked the last 1/4 km home. Most km's were in the 6:15-6:45/ km pace despite the hills. Yay me.

Good times!

Cravings

2012-01-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

I had a healthy smoothie for breakfast, tuna and veggies for lunch, rye crackers with almond butter for afternoon snack, and a healthy dinner.

Now I want something SWEET!!

So I might have a small piece of dark chocolate.

And it will taste great and I'll make it last.

And 15 minutes later, I will STILL crave something sweet.

So I might crunch on some carrots.

And then I'll have a few raisins or nuts.

And I'll STILL be craving something sweet.

Meanwhile, over the period of a couple hours, I will have chewed up an extra 300 calories of miscellaneous snacks.

And it's always those last 300 cals, that push me over my limit.

So today, I cut out the butter, like I said I would yesterday, and now it looks like I have some 'space' for my evening cravings.

Maybe some nuts and dried fruit, with a little piece of dark chocolate.

I'm also going to make myself a cup of decaf tea with 1 tsp sugar. Something warm and sweet will help.

This to shall pass.... right?

PS I rode the trainer for 45 min tonight. Tomorrow I run. :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well I must say, the new year is always a HUGE motivator for me. I think it's partly because it follows 10-14 days of indulgence and debauchery which, while enjoyable, usually leads to feelings of "fatness" and "unfitness."

I lost 3 lbs while I was sick in December but not surprisingly, I gained them all back in the past 2 weeks and so now find myself at the same "7 lbs over race weight" that I was all most of the fall. But fear not, for it is January and for me at least, it's a great time to get back on track.

I decided once again, to join the 10in10 challenge on Facebook, primarily because I am a creature in need of varied forms of motivation. Initially begun by Nigel from Running from the Reaper Podcast, the challenge has now been picked up by Coach Adam, and so far there are at least 25 members. Adam has info and links on his blog post here in case you are interested in joining as well.

So for me - I'm gonna stick with the tried and true calorie counting with lots of fruit and veggies, lean meat and alternate proteins, healthy fats, very little bread or white carbs. This time around, I'm going to cut back 'slightly' on the carbs and up the protein and healthy fat a little, see where it takes me. This will by no means be low-carb - I will mostly be trying to eat only 'good' carbs and avoid 'bad carbs".

Today I did pretty well with my eating plan. I managed to control myself around the crap at work, and then this evening, I did succumb to a small piece of candy and a bite of Erik's butter tart, oh, and one slice of baguette with butter. Not great, but not terrible.

I ate about 1800 calories today - should have been closer to 1600 but at least it was a workout day. I need to eat less fat, and more protein - tomorrow, no butter.

Of those calories:

43% carbs
21% protein
36% fat

I'd like it to be closer to:

40-45% carbs
25-30% protein
30% fat

Training is going well I think.

Here's what I've done so far this week:

Dec 31 - Ran 8.5 km on the treadmill
Jan. 1 - Rode 18 km (45 min) on trainer
Jan. 2 - Swam 2100m (1:05) and full strength/core workout (1:00)
Jan. 3 - Ran 4.75 km outside

The rest of week's plan is as follows:

Jan. 4 - Trainer (45-60 min)
Jan. 5 - Run (30-45 min)
Jan. 6 - rest day ? or yoga / stretch / core / upper body weights?
Jan. 7 - Long run (1:15)
Jan. 8 - Swim and Weights

2011 in the bag, almost

2011-12-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

Usually at this time of year, I look back at my year, celebrate my accomplishments and set goals for the future, but I dunno, it doesn't seem like it's been that good of a year (ooh that's bad English isn't it??!!), as far as training and racing has been concerned. I guess I worked pretty hard for the first six months up until my half iron, and then somehow, in the second half of the year, I slacked off a bunch, took it easy, ran a bunch of races for the fun of it, trained when I felt like it, let myself gain 5 lbs and stay there( where my body seems to like to be...) But is that a bad thing, or a good thing? Hmmm...

So I did some races:

March 27, 2011 - Okanagan College Half Marathon - 2:13:49, PR
May 15, 2011 - Oliver Sprint Triathlon - 1:30:41, 2nd AG
June 5, 2011 - Oliver Half Iron - 6:57:53, PR
July 9, 2011 - Osoyoos Half Iron Relay - 2k swim - 49:28
July 31, 2011 - San Francisco Half Marathon - 2:26:39
August 21, 2011 - Kelowna Apple Sprint Triathlon - 1:31:21
October 9, 2011 - Okanagan 10K (BMO Okanagan Marathon) - 58:20 (1st 10k)
November 27, 2011 - Ginger Jar Historic 10k - 1:08:51 (injured calf)

...actually more races than I thought, now that I see them cut and pasted here. The only two I'm really proud of are my half marathon on March 27 and my half iron on June 5. All the rest of them were sub-par as far as times were concerned. That being said, I was always content with doing those races for fun, wasn't I?

So when I think about it - I'm more than happy with my year. I must say I really enjoyed the 'fun' races - less pressure, less worry about a PR, more focus on fun and fitness. I think my true 'triathlete personality' may lean more toward a @trifunster than a super hardcore tri chick. :)

Training

As far as my training is concerned, I definitely did less biking and swimming than last year, but I did more running. Let me go drag up the stats for 2011 and see how they compare to previous years. I don't keep very good track of some workouts such as strength, yoga, walking etc. The only ones I record faithfully are swim, bike, and run.

2011 Totals - about 180 hrs S, B, R
Bike:	70h 48m 50s	1699.06 KM
Run:	100h 45m 05s	871.45 KM
Swim:	8h 57m 07s	20750 M
Strength:	13h 25m
Core Training:	2h 20m
Elliptical Training:	3h 20m
Rowing:	1h 10m
Skate Skiing:	3h 30m
Stretching:	2h 50m
Volleyball:	1h 30m
Walking:	8h 50m
Yoga:	4h 25 min

2010 Totals - about 234 hrs S, B, R
Bike:	100h 50m 17s	2366.49 KM
Run:	88h 00m 43s	690.33 KM
Swim:	45h 37m 53s	96600 M
Strength:	6h 05m
Core Training:	1h 30m
Elliptical Training:	8h 50m
Hiking:	2h 15m
Massage:	2h 00m
Rowing:	1h 10m
Skate Skiing:	7h 45m
Stretching:	20m
Volleyball:	1h 30m
Walking:	55m
Yoga:	7h 50m

2009 Totals - about 188 hrs S, B, R
Bike:	102h 06m 13s	2152.08 KM
Run:	65h 42m 47s	502.33 KM
Swim:	20h 10m	41250 M
Strength:	9h 52m
Core Training:	30m
Dancing:	2h 20m
Elliptical Training:	4h 03m
Golf:	2h 00m
Hiking:	2h 25m 29s
Misc.:	20m
Plyometrics:	15m
Rowing:	1h 42m
Stationary Biking :	45m
Stretching:	1h 15m
Walking:	30m
Yoga:	5h 50m

2008 Totals - about 216 hrs S, B, R
Bike:	117h 51m 59s	2743.65 KM
Run:	62h 18m 13s	508.07 KM
Swim:	36h 38m 01s	64450.00 M
Strength:	26h 35m
Sports:	24h 05m

2007 Totals - about 173 hrs (S) B, R
Bike:	155h 13m 29s	3472.71 KM
Run:	18h 04m 02s	156.36 KM
Swim:	none
Strength:	3h 00m
Sports:	3h 35m

So what will 2012 hold for me? I guess we'll have to wait and see. :)

Running, a fever

2011-12-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well, that flu bug really kicked my ass. I was down for the count with fever, congestion, headache, body aches, cough, and a rash all over my body last weekend. I stayed home from work on Monday, but reluctantly went back to work on Tuesday once my fever was gone because we had Christmas concert rehearsals and I felt I needed to be there. I was exhausted all week at work, and went to bed as soon as I got home every night. Somehow I survived the week though and now I'm on a two week break until January 3rd. Yay!

Today, I went out for my first run in 3 weeks and for the most part, I felt ok. I'm still hacking up a lung and my chest felt kind of tight when I was running so I took it easy and ran slow. My calf felt really good for the first 15 minutes, and then it started to tighten up so I ran a little more and then walked the last few minutes home. I iced the calf and put on my Zensah calf sleeve (I ran in it too). I'm REALLY hoping it's going to be ok as get back to running and start to build up my miles again in time for marathon training in January. (Crossing everything.)

Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym - I have about half my normal energy but I figure I can do an hour at the gym if I don't push too hard. We'll see.

PS On a brighter note - I lost 3 lbs while I was sick - hardly ate anything at all. Hoping I can keep it off during the Christmas break. Hmmm....

December

2011-12-11T18:00:00.001-08:00

Quick Update

The week after my last, upbeat and optimistic blog post on November 6, I had a fairly crappy running week - I didn't manage my long run on November 13th because everything hurt, and I found it tough to run longer than 30 minutes for the next 3 runs that week. I ran a few times on the treadmill at the gym the following week because of snow and ice and then focussed on my 10k race in Vancouver the following weekend.

On Sunday, November 27, I did the Ginger Jar Historic 10k race around the Stanley Park Seawall. You can read the full race report here, on Daily Mile, but the short version is that I ran an awesome 9k at a potential PR pace, pulled my calf muscle, and walked/limped the last km in. :)

The next days were recovery from the mild calf strain - icing for 72 hours, heat and stretching for the days following. I tried a 1km run 10 days after the race, but it began to tighten up again so I stopped.

This past week, I had some ART done to my calf and the chiro gave me the all clear to try an easy run this weekend. Unfortunately, I came down with a bad cold/flu bug on Thursday and have been laid up in bed for several days.

When I do get back to running, I will be well rested. :)

On a slightly brighter note, I have been making better progress at getting to the gym to do my strength training. I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be, but I'm getting better at it.

So that's it - short and sweet. I'll try to post again later this week.

A New Month

2011-11-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Long time, no see - I bin bizzy.... :D

So, where did we last leave off?

Healthy Eating

I haven't lost any weight but I haven't gained any weight either - so that's a good thing. I've been eating vegetarian at least 4 days a week and other than the glut of halloween candy, I'm doing fairly well with eating in general. Always room for improvement though.

Core Strength Training

I still pretty much suck at being consistent at this so far. I've done a solid session at the gym for the last two Saturdays, including some cardio in the pool, rowing, or the bike at the gym. However, as I continue to struggle with getting a decent sleep, I find it difficult to do any kind of workout after school. My plan is (was) to go to the gym after work on the days I don't run but every week, something has blocked me - either a 3-4 hour sleep the night before, a late meeting, or too many errands. I will continue to work on this.

Running

Over the past three weeks, I've had some real success with running.

* I've run 3 times a week, for 3 weeks

* I've been able to do some hilly routes on my week day routes without feeling injured the next day.

* I've built up to running 9-12km every Sunday and I'm now at the point where I don't feel like my legs are lead for the half the run.

Here's what I ran for the past 3 weeks

Oct. 17-23 > Tues 30 min, Fri 30 min, Sun 60 min (17.7 km)

Oct. 24-30 > Wed 35 min, Fri 45 min, Sun 75 min (22.2 km)

Nov 1-6 > Tues 45 min, Fri 58 min, Sun 75 min (26.8 km)

Marathon Plans

I've been looking around at a lot of marathon training plans, primarily at the long runs. There are many options out there. I don't want to be coached for this - I find I have to keep asking coaches to change things - it's easier for me to tweak a plan myself. I generally don't have any trouble with having the self-discipline to do the runs (not true for other training tho).

Things I'm looking for:

* Running only 3 days a week, with cross training on alternate days
* Slow build of the long run with plenty of recovery weeks
* A possibility of some hill work because Vancouver marathon has some hills
* Adjustable to my life, snow/ice, work, and my breakable body

I have found a few plans out there that fit the bill but the other day I was chatting with Stuart from the Quadrathon Podcast (which I happen to be co-hosting for the next little while - check it out!) and he was telling me a little about the Furman FIRST program which he has successfully followed a few times.

I remember looking at it in the past and being concerned that the three fairly challenging runs per week might be too much for me. However, given that I can now successfully run hills without having to walk, and I've managed to recover from my last two races without injury, I think perhaps I might be ready to try a modified version of the Furman program.

My Current Plan

Right now, my plan is to run 45 min twice a week, at least once with hills, and then run 1:15 every Sunday until mid December. I want to get my legs used to running that distance (about 25-30 km per week) and feel good doing it.

I am going to run a fun 10k race at the end of November, and treat it like a mid-long tempo run. Then I plan to start my marathon training on this base.

The Furman plan calls for 3 key runs per week.

Tues - Track workout with 400m - 1600m repeats

Thurs - Tempo run of some sort with warm up and cool down

Sun - Long run (usually marathon pace plus 5-40 sec per km - it varies)

I am basing my paces on a conservative 27:30 5km time.

It gives me a marathon pace of 6:21/km (10:13 mile)

Don't get my wrong, I'm not expecting to be able to run a full marathon at that pace, but that's the training numbers I will use, so long as I am feeling ok. Most of the long runs are based on this pace plus a number of seconds per km.

Short Tempo - 5:21/km (8:36 mile)

Mid Tempo - 5:41/km (9:08 mile)

Long Tempo - 5:59/km (9:37 mile)

I know I can do the long run at those paces, and I tried the tempo run on Friday and felt ok. I think I'll probably skip the track workout until I've got lots of endurance, assuming I'm not teetering on injury.

I also plan to stretch out the 16 week plan over 20 weeks with a few repeat weeks and recovery weeks thrown in for good measure. I want to build up a bit slower than they suggest.

Should be interesting....

Concerns

* I'm not sure how to do specific paces when I'm running hills.

* I'm not sure how to keep to specific paces when I'm running on snow or ice in the winter.

When in doubt, I'll go by my Heart Rate. :)

I guess I'll figure it out as I go. :)

End of Week Three

2011-10-23T19:03:00.001-07:00

Yeah, ok, so I gave up on the halfhearted daily blogging attempt. Once a week will have to do. So - how was my week you ask? Well it was pretty darn good actually. I ran three times, and I ate meatless meals three times. Yay me...

Training

My run after school on Tuesday was pretty miserable, mainly because I'm on my feet all day and my legs are toast by the time I get home. When I started my run, my legs were telling me to pack it in early, but then I decided to pretend it was the last 30 minutes of a marathon, and suddenly my legs didn't feel so bad after all. It seriously worked, haha, got to remember that one.

I was busy Thursday and really didn't want to run after dinner so I got up at 6 am on Friday morning and went for a run before my workshop. It was just another 30 minute easy run, but it was ok. I ran in the dark so I had my headlamp and red flasher, and I had to bundle up because it was cold. I enjoyed being out in the cold and the dark though - I'm weird that way.

Saturday, I didn't have anything planned so I decided to go to the gym. Erik agreed to come along and that got me motivated to swim. I swam 1000m in 25 minutes, then changed and went up to the gym to do a core and strength workout for 25 minutes, and followed that with another 20 minutes of cardio on the bike. What a productive day!

Today, I went for my 'long' run - one hour easy Zone 2 pace - and felt better than I have in a LONG time. I resisted the urge to pick up the pace, and tried to focus on my goal of building endurance. Overall, I'm happy to say I got through the week without hurting and my shin pain seems to have (mostly) disappeared.

The only #FAIL for the week was that I did not do my planned Core/Strength workouts on Monday and Wednesday. I was really tired and mostly just lazy. However, now that I had a successful workout on Saturday, I think I can get back into the habit again.

Healthy Eating Front

I made a few new recipes this week. One day I made "Yummy Black Bean, Brown Rice, Swiss Chard Mess" when the boys were having leftover chicken. Another day I had mushroom/onions/tomatoes on a bun when the boys have burgers. I made a batch of hummus and ate lots of fresh fruit and veggies as well as my soup at work this week. On Friday, I was at a workshop that had delicious lunch served so I enjoyed myself and ate what I wanted and when I got home, I made a big batch of the soup she had served - the recipe for Spicy Sweet Potato Soup is on my blog as well. On Friday night, Erik and I shared a rib eye, a baguette, and a bottle of red wine.

So - that must be why I've gone through the whole week eating relatively healthy but not losing a single pound. Maybe I just need to eat LESS healthy food.... ??

Plan for the Coming Week

Mon - Upper Body / Core
Tues - Run 30-45 min easy
Wed - Lower Body / Core
Thur - Run 30-45 min with hills
Fri - day off
Sat - Gym workout, swim, row?
Sun - Long run 1:15

Day 11-16 Catchup

2011-10-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by - time to take stock and analyze how well I met my goals.

Training

This one is pretty easy. My goal was simply to recover from my race and I knew that would likely take most of the week. My legs were pretty sore for 3-4 days and my shins continued to hurt right until the weekend so I didn't bother running until Saturday. I went out for a run Saturday morning, hoping to get in 30-45 minutes around the neighbourhood. My right shin was still kind of tight and sore but not enough to deter me. I actually felt good enough to run the hills in the area and did just under 8km in 50 minutes. I ran up every hill except for the end of one steep one. I also did a lot of stretching throughout the week.

Healthy Eating

It was nice to have meals planned and fruit/veggies and snacks prepared in advance for the week.

I ate breakfast twice out of four mornings - ok I need to work on that some more.

I switched to decaf tea during the school day. That went well.

I ate with the boys all week instead of eating meat alternates. However, I tried to make healthy food for them and I practiced portion control.

I ate crap too often. Someone brought doughnuts to work one day. Another day, there were Girl Guide cookies.

I still eat too much over all and I didn't eat enough veggies at dinner time.

My favourites this week were:

Homemade Fruit/Nut Bars

Homemade Spicy Sweet Potato fries. I eat these cold for lunch all week. YUM!

Next Week

Monday - lower body strength, and core
Tuesday - run 30-45 min after work
Wednesday - upper body strength and core
Thursday - run 30-45 min after work
Friday - core, lower body if I'm not sore or rest day
Saturday - core, lower body if I'm not sore or rest day
Sunday - run 1 hour

Day 10 - Race Recovery, and Following Through

2011-10-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, today I'm feeling stiff and sore - hamstrings, calves, shins... I guess I ran a race yesterday. :) I don't think I'll feel ready to run until Thursday and that's ok. Today I just took it easy and did lots of stretching and that's about it.

Following Through

Although today us Monday, it's Thanksgiving holiday so I have the day off. I took the time to get organized for the week ahead and try to be proactive and remove any barriers that might stand in my way of healthy eating (see my blog post Day 6, 7, 8).

* My menu planning is done for the week, as is the shopping.

* I plan to eat meat with the boys 2 nights and have meat alternates on 2 nights.

* I cleaned and cut up a bunch of raw veggies for my lunches and snacks this week.

* I have yogurt for breakfasts.

* I have lots of fruit in the house.

* I made a batch of fruit, nut, seed bars for after school snacks (recipe is here).

* I boiled some eggs for lunchtime protein.

* I have a pot of veggie soup ready to take to work this week.

* I'm going to try drinking tea this week instead of coffee to cut back on caffeine.

* I have my water bottle packed to take to school.

I think that's it. Now to execute the plan.

Day 9 - Okanagan 10k Race

2011-10-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

I had a plan and I stuck with it! Yay!

This was my first 10km race and I had no idea what I could do but I was kind of hoping to be under an hour. My previous fastest 10km training run was around 1:04 I think. There was no way to find out except to get out there and do it.

Pre Race, Weather and Gear

I got up around 6am and had half cup coffee and a banana. Erik was still deciding if he was going to be able to race or not but his back was feeling better this morning so we were hoping for the best.

It was mostly cloudy with a hope of some sun, about 10C as we left the house and got up to a high of about 14C by the end of the race with a few rain sprinkles now and again. I decided to wear my tights and a LS tech shirt instead of my warmer jersey, and in the end, I even decided against the vest and my headband. I probably could have worn shorts and even a short sleeve shirt but I was not uncomfortable.

I taped up my right ankle and shin quite well with KT Tape and thought my legs were feeling pretty good this morning. I was optimistic I'd have a decent race.

As usual, I took my handheld water bottle with half a Nuun tablet and I had a chocolate Hammer gel to take 15 minutes before the race, mainly because I don't eat much breakfast.

We left the house around 7:10am, parked in the Chapman Parkade, and walked 2 blocks to the race start. I hit the porto-potties twice (as usual) but the lines were not bad at all. We checked our gear and got to the race start line. Erik went ahead to the :50 pace group and I positioned myself just behind the 1:00 pace group. It was narrow and crowded in the chute and it took me 30 seconds to reach the starting line but once we were on the road, it was fine.

The Plan:

Run first 2km at 6:15km
Run next 6km at 5:45/km
Run 2km whatever I can do but keep it under 6:00/km.
Goal time: 59:45

The Race

Once we hit the road, there was a huge ability spread amongst the runners and I did not really feel much pressure to run too fast. That being said, I wasn't able to stay at 6:15 as planned, but I figured I was close enough, and my HR was in zone 2 for those two warm up kms.

(FYI - 6:15/km = 10 min mile, 6:00/km = 9:39 mile. 5:45/km = 9:15 mile)

My Splits:
1km - 6:03
2km - 6:09
3km - 5:38
4km - 5:45
5km - 5:43 (5 km split time - 29:18)
6km - 5:48
7km - 5:47
8km - 5:51
9km - 5:43
10km - 5:32 (2nd 5km was 28:45 - neg split)
extra .05km - :15

My Times

Chip time: 58:20 <--yahoo!!!
Gun Time: 58:57

My Stats

288/706 overall
135/422 women
10/63 age group (50-59) (WOW, I was really happy to be in the top ten for this age group!)

I'm so happy with my result - I felt good and strong and was able to keep on going even when it got tough for the last 3-4 km.

My heart rate was in zone 2 for first 2km, then zone 3, 4, 5 for the last 8 km. I think my pacing plan went well for this race. If I was better trained, I could probably go out harder from the beginning but for today, I was happy to be able to negative split the race and finish strong and fast.

I figure if I was able to actually train for a 10k race, I'd be able to come closer to 55 minutes. Erik wants us to go to Vancouver and do a 10k race around the seawall at the end of November so if we do, maybe I can improve my time.

I'd post about Erik's race, but maybe it would be better if we push him to blog about it himself. :) Email him at kelownaguy@gmail.com to give him a little encouragement. :)

Day 6, 7, 8....

2011-10-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

On Thursday and Friday, all I did was stretch. My shins are still a little sore and I am really tired so I haven't done much more than that as I lead up to my first 10k race on Sunday. On Thursday, I got home from work, lay down for a few minutes and fell dead asleep. Luckily, my son woke be up within half an hour or I probably would have been down for the count. Friday, we went out for dinner and again, I was really tired. Today, my plan is to loosen up my legs and stretch. I'm holding off on the strength and core work until after my race.

Healthy Eating Battle

I am still struggling with healthy eating. I do really well in the beginning of the week, but start to fall apart as the week wears on when I run out of energy and food for healthy meals. On Thursday night, I woke up after my nap and ordered a pizza for the boys and I, then on Friday night, we went out to Original Joes where I had fish tacos. I have still not managed to solve my issues.

I guess what I need to do is look at the reasons I fall apart, and find solutions.

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Problem One - Sometimes I am too tired to think about what to make for dinner and/or I don't have the ingredients for a healthy meal.

Solution - Take 20 minutes to plan a WEEK's worth of dinners every Sunday. Shop for the ingredients I need on Sunday (when I have time and energy). Continue to make my big pot of soup for my weekday lunches. Pre-cut veggies for a quick easy snack.

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Problem Two - The boys often want to eat tastier, less healthy stuff, and it's sometimes tiring to make two meals. Not all meals are easily converted to healthy. If we have tacos, I can make mine meatless and can have a taco salad instead of using a wrap, but other times, it's not so easy. Also, if I'm really hungry, I'd much rather eat (and taste) the unhealthy version. I can eat healthy if the bad food's not around but I have lousy self-discipline when bad food is available.

Solution - When planning the week's meals, choose foods that have an easy meatless or healthy option so there's not a lot of extra work in making myself a healthier choice when I'm feeding the boys.

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Problem Three - I'm not eating breakfast lately. I drink a cup of coffee in the morning and that takes the edge off my hunger so I don't even notice I'm not eating. Then I sip on my thermos of coffee all morning at work so I never really get hungry. I know that in theory, not eating breakfast is a bad thing, although it's not like I'm overeating at lunch because of it....

Solution - Be sure to plan the breakfasts as well when I'm doing the meal planning for the week. I have several easy-to-eat breakfasts that I enjoy. I just need to follow through.

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Problem Four - Since fall began, I seem to have stopped drinking water. I have my water bottle on my desk, but I'm not sipping on it all day long like I normally do.

Solution - Add ice to my bottle (I drink more water if it's really cold) and take a glass up to my room. Make myself drink a glass of water before I'm allowed to pour coffee from my thermos into my cup.

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Problem Five - I'm hungry after school, and/or REALLY hungry when I get home from work, then I make poor food choices.

Solution - Bring healthy snacks to school and have them handy at all times.

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The Race Plan

Today, I picked up my race packet (#2958) for tomorrow morning's the race. I'm pretty low key about it - I just love the race atmosphere and I am enjoying racing for fun. My shins have been sore since my hard-ish run last Sunday - what else is new - but I know if I stay off my feet, I'll be ok for tomorrow. I think sub-60 minutes is going to be a stretch so I'm ok if I don't meet that goal, as long as I do my best.

The biggest challenge is going to be to start off slower than the rest of the crowd. However, some of the 10kers are walking so it won't be as bad as the half marathon last March. There should be enough people who run slower than me to make me able to keep to my planned paces.

My goal is to run the first 2 km at 6:15/km, then the next 6km at 5:45/km, then try to keep to under 6 min km for the last 2 km - depending on how I feel.

As a side note, Erik was painting earlier this week and put his back out (again). He's still at the 'hard-to-walk-without-pain' stage and it's difficult to say if he'll actually be running tomorrow or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Race Time: 8:15 am

Goal time: 59:45-65:00 minutes

Expected weather: Partly cloudy but dry, 5-8 C (mid 40's F)

Gear: Tights, Sugoi mid zero zip LS jersey, hat, Newtons, headband to cover ears.

Day 5 - Happy World Teachers' Day!

2011-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not so happy. More threats of the government legislating us back to work, and/or legislating a contract. Argh.

Running away from it all

I got home from work, totally exhausted today. I knew I had said I would run but my legs were feeling really tired and I considered skipping it. I sat in front of the computer for awhile, getting caught up with the news of the day, and then saw BMO Vancouver Marathon tweet the new course for May 6, 2012.

The new course looks very pretty and although it has a couple of long, fairly low hills (2% grade) there are lots of flat sections and downhills along the beautiful waterfront of Vancouver. It looks doable. I think.

So then I thought, if I'm planning on signing up for a spring marathon, I'd better get out and do my little run right now. So I did. My legs were still feeling heavy, stiff, and achey but I ignored them (shut up legs a la Jens Voigt) and I went for a short run with a few one minute walk breaks thrown in for good measure. I stopped after 25 minutes because my ankle was starting to hurt too much and I didn't want to risk injury so close to my race.

10C, 50F, almost dark, light rain - lovely weather for running actually. I wore shorts, my merino wool t-shirt and my awesome Sugoi Versa jacket, a head band to cover my ears, and my hat. If I'd run any longer, I would have taken the sleeves off my jacket.

So, not all that impressive - only 25 minutes, about 3.3 km I think - whatever. At least I ran. And now I'm going to rest my legs until Sunday. My plan for the next 3 days is stretching and yoga - that's it.

Fingers crossed.

Day 4 - Playing it Smart

2011-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I got home from work, got into my running gear, headed out for my run, ran 200m, turned around and came home.

It was a toss up to run today or tomorrow, but as soon as I got out there, I could feel the tension in my shins so I opted to wait until tomorrow for my run.

Plan A had been to run easy Tuesday and Thursday, before my race on Sunday. Plan B was to run only Wednesday. I guess I'm going with Plan B so I'm in top shape on Sunday. My body always needs to be well rested before a race.

In lieu of running, I did 30 minutes of yoga and stretching. Tomorrow will be an easy run and upper body/core work like I did yesterday.

Work

I am facing a great deal of stress at work right now and it's been mentally exhausting. We are in the midst of job action (work to rule) and there is news coming out daily about how that is all going to play out. I am increasingly frustrated with the government, the media, and the general public in their lack of knowledge and subsequent lack of support for teachers and our education system.

Then yesterday, the government announced sweeping changes to our education system that would rely completely on further gutting of our collective agreement. Not surprisingly, they appear to be planning to legislate these changes, rather than negotiate them. I feel sick just thinking about it. No wonder I can't sleep at night...

Day Three - Monday, what can I say?

2011-10-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

I had an awful sleep again last but I seemed to feel pretty good most of the day despite the lack of sleep. My glutes are still sore from Saturday's workout and Sunday's run, so I tonight I rested my glutes and did some core and upper body work, followed by a good stretch, yoga style.

10 knee pushups
20 crunches
20 bike crunches
15 knee pushups
20 crunches
20 bike crunches
20 knee pushups
20 crunches
20 bike crunches

Then some stretching: calves, ITB, glutes, piriformis, upper back and shoulders.

That be all. I need some sleep and I want to do an short easy run tomorrow after work.

Day Two - Long(ish) Run

2011-10-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

So far so good, I'm still on track.

Today the plan was to run 10 km. My plan was to run 3 km as a warm up (6:30/ km ~10:30 mile), then 5 km at 10k race pace (under 6:00/km <10 min mile), and then cool down for the last two km.

Feeling Chipper This Morning

I felt pretty good when I got up - I've had some awful sleeps this week and I think I finally managed to catch up a bit on Friday/Saturday night. My hip flexors and glutes were feeling a little stiff and sore from my workout yesterday - I tried to go easy but I guess it wasn't easy enough. They seemed to be ok on my run though, thankfully.

I had a cup of coffee and a pear for breakfast and took an espresso Hammer gel before I left as fuel for my run. Erik and I drove down to Gyro beach to park and we ran along Abbott and into City Park, then back to the car. (He ran his pace and I ran mine.)

It was partly cloudy and about 13-14C (55-57F) so I wore my tri shorts and a tech t-shirt. I felt a bit cool at the start but decided against my vest. I ran with my 20 oz hand held bottle and a Nuun tablet and drank about half of it.

The Run
I kept to my planned paces quite closely, even though my Garmin pace seemed to wander all over the place while I was running. I went partly by pace and partly by heart rate, being in Zone 2 for the warm up and in high Zone 3 for the middle 5 km (14 min were into Zone 4).

The big unknown was what kind of pace I'd keep for the middle 5km - I wanted to be under a 6 min/km but wasn't sure how much under. In the end, I averaged about 5:45-5:50/km (9:15 mile) so I'm really happy with that. I felt good for the first 4 km but the last km was painful and I could feel my form falling apart. My HR was starting to climb into Zone 4 at this point and my avg HR for the last 3 km of that section was 170 bpm. When I finished that race pace segment, I walked for one minute and then jogged for the last 2 km, at about a 6:30/km.

Afterwards
Overall, I felt really good on this run. My shins, feet, and ankle all felt ok and I was quite happy that I didn't seem to having any of the usual lasting effects after my faster hilly run last Tuesday. I stretched and iced when I got home and now, later in the evening, I am felling pretty stiff and sore (glutes mainly).

Race Plan for Sunday

However, I don't think I'm going to be able to hold that 5:45/km (9:15 mile) pace for the whole 10 km next Sunday. My plan, if I can stick to it, is to run 6:15/km for the first 2 km, then 5:45/km for the next 6 km, then whatever I can for the last 2 km. If I can keep the last two km around a 6 min km, I can break an hour. Just barely. I've never raced a 10km and I've never tried to break an hour so I have no idea if I can do that right now. I guess we shall see. I'm not too worried about it though - what will be, will be. I'll be content with a slightly faster run than I did today - each time is a PR for me.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of...

2011-10-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

...my life. Yadda yadda yadda. OK, you know how that line goes - but honestly, it's still a good way to look at things. It's never too late to be who you might have been.... right?

Today is October 1st and what better time to make a clean slate and start fresh. I've done really well sticking to my running plan for the last two weeks and now it's time to add in the rest of my goals.

The week before last, I ran 30-45 min on Tuesday and Thursday, and then a moderate paced (for me) 10 km last Sunday. Then this past week, I ran 6k (40 min) on Wednesday (a hilly and fairly fast run with friends), and 4.5 km (30 min) after work on Friday, and I'm feeling pretty good despite jumping into 3 runs a week after only 1-2 a week the previous month.

Today's Work out
This morning, I did about an hour of core strength, yoga, foam roller, and stretching. I decided to start off easy so I don't feel to sore to do another workout on Monday.

20 minutes core strength - focus on core, hip flexors and glute med

20 crunches
20 bike crunches
10 knee pushups
20 lunges
Downward dog
20 side leg lifts
20 crunches
20 bike crunches
10 knee pushups
10 one leg step downs
20 crunches
20 bike crunches
10 knee pushups
20 side leg lifts
1 min plank

15 min yoga - Runner's Yoga - I'm still feeling some pain in left hip/groin when I do Child's Pose, Runner's Lunge, Pigeon Pose etc.

5 min foam roller - focus on glutes, piriformis, ITB, and calves

15-20 min stretch - 1 minute hold for each stretch

Tomorrow's Plan

Tomorrow my plan is to run 10km - with a 2.5 km warmup, gradually building speed, then 5k at race pace, then 2.5 km cool down.

Regrouping Part 4

2011-09-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

The Goals and the Plan

Writing out my goals - that is the hard part. Once I write them down and put them out there, there is a certain commitment and pressure to follow through. And some of these goals are ones I've written down time and time again, but failed miserably. How do I make this time different? I dunno. But I guess I'll just keep on trying.

I have a number of things I want to accomplish this fall/winter. Running, Biking, and Swimming are only a part of the plan. I also want to focus on core strength in the off season and regain control of my diet.

The "Sports" This Winter

Running - 10 km race on October and full marathon in the spring

* Two 30-45 minute runs during the week, and one long run on the weekend.
* Short runs on Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday/Friday
* Zone 2 runs only until December/January
* IF I am feeling good and there is no inkling of injury, start to throw in some hills and/or tempo runs once in awhile.
* stretch/ice/tape/shin sleeves - whatever it takes to stay loose

Biking - Crosstrain only throughout the winter

* One or two 30-90 minute sessions on the trainer per week
* Zone 2 HR only

Swimming - Maintain swim fitness

* Undecided - possibly swim this winter, if I can arrange some one on one sessions with a coach
* After January, swim 2-3 times per week
* Upper body strength - swim specific muscle groups

Core Strength

The off season is the time to work on core and overall strength. It's so hard to fit that in during the regular season - now is the time to give it my full attention, and hopefully develop some habits and routines that can carry me through the next race season.

My plan is to do core and strength training, in addition to yoga on most of my non-running days - three days a week minimum.

The 'D' Word

In addition, as always, I need to look at my diet once again. I tried something different this year. I tried to just eat smart and not count calories, splurging once in awhile, enjoy life, but try to be mindful. It doesn't work for me. As of June 1st, I was up 3 lbs, by the end of the summer, I was up 6 lbs, end of September, 7 lbs. If I don't count calories, I gain about 1 lb a month. That sucks. My clothes feel tight and I it is affecting my fitness. If you're fit and you don't believe me, try tying a weight belt of 7 lbs around your waist before you head out for your next run.

Throughout the summer, instead of counting calories, I played around with a lot of different 'diets' (for lack of a better word). My standard favourite is the Mediterranean Diet that allows lean meat and dairy, healthy fats, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and lots of fruits and vegetables. This summer, I played around with a vegetarian and vegan diet and have subsequently found it easy to make vegetarian choices much more often.

Four Hour Body

I tried the Four Hour Body diet for about ten days at the end of August - which allows primarily meat, beans, and vegetables - no white carbs, sugar, dairy, or fruit. I lost weight quite quickly but it seemed to be mostly water weight as I was eating much less carbs. As soon as I ate carbs again, the weight came back in 2-3 days. The breakfasts were the worst - meat and vegetables just aren't a nice breakfast. I can only eat so many eggs - and I missed fruit and yogurt/cottage cheese terribly. I also happen think whole grains are good for you.

So - I think I will go back to my Mediterranean diet with a greater focus on alternate protein choices and very little white carbs. I will also begin counting calories again as it seems that's the only way I can lose weight. Hello Sparkpeople....

Regrouping Part 3 - Tidbits

2011-09-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

OK so I said I would talk about my goals in this post, but I remembered I have a few short bits of news to share first.

Brace Yourself

For the most exciting news - I finally got my braces off last Wednesday, after 2 years, 9 months, and 18 long tortuous days!! Yeah, I know, "First World Problems"... I should be glad to have the opportunity to spend $6500 to get my teeth straightened and another $6000 to get dental work done. Anyway, although the horrendous metal contraptions are finally off my teeth, I'm not done yet. It'll be another 6-12 months before I get new veneers on my four worn down front teeth and everything is finally 'fixed.' :)

Hip Hip No Hooray

OK, so I haven't done an update on my hip lately. I got the results back from my MRI and met with the sports doctor last week. The good news - no tear in the labrum (the inside coating of the hip joint). The bad news - I have a 6mm (1/4 inch) piece of bone or cartilage floating around loose inside my hip joint. They could not tell what the object was, nor where it came from, and there's not even any definite connection that this loose body is what is actually causing my pain.

The MRI report recommended a CT Scan to see if they find out where the piece came from, and I tentatively have one booked for Oct. 25, however my doctor isn't sure it's worth getting the extra radiation because the treatment will likely be the same regardless of where it's from.

My doctor and I both suspect that:

1) the loose object may be a piece of a bone spur that broke off when I hurt my hip skiing last winter.

2) the pain in my hip isn't actually being caused by the loose object, but rather, other bone spurs (osteophytes from mild arthritis) in my hip joint are rubbing and/or catching when my leg is moved into certain positions.

However, we aren't positive so....

Call in the Surgeon

After some discussion, we decided to get a consult with a surgeon to get his thoughts. He can view the actual MRI and might have some insight as to what course of action I should take. If it is a bad thing to have that piece of bone in my hip joint, it's a fairly simple procedure to 'scope' my hip and remove it. I say 'simple' in the relative sense, since anything surgical is never really 'simple' and naturally would require some time off training, and probably work as well.

The way this hip pain affects me right now, I really don't feel that surgery is necessary, but I am concerned about the long term effect of that loose piece floating around in there. If it ends up doing damage to the hope joint over time, the resulting repair could be much more complex.

In the meantime, I will wait to hear from one of the local surgeons and hope I can get a consult appointment within the next few months. I have no idea what the wait list time for any of this is.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow - short term goals. Thanks for reading. :)

Regrouping Part 2

2011-09-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

So I left off last night, mulling over my race goals for the upcoming year.

As I mentioned, Erik and I have both decided to do the 10k race held here in Kelowna, on October 9th, part of the Okanagan International Marathon weekend. It will be my World Wide Festival of Races race for 2011. I've run lots of 5 k's and a few half marathons, but I've never ru a 10k, so this will be interesting and fun to do. I haven't trained specifically for the race, but if I'm feeling ok, I should be able to push hard enough to come in just under one hour. If not, plan B will be under 1:05. I don't really care - I just want to get out and race. :)

Marathon Training versus Triathlon Training

The dilemma for me has been how to train for both a half iron and a marathon. I think if you come from a running background and move to triathlons, you can d both simultaneously, but for me, it doesn't seem to work that way. One thing I've learned about myself is that I take a LONG time to recover from races, even a short sprint tri. If schedule a race in the middle of marathon training, I get behind on my long runs while recovering from the race. So next year, I need to have a different plan.

My Fall Plans

Here's my thinking - between now and January, I will focus on running three times a week. I will run 30-45 minutes twice a week on school days, and I will do a long run on the weekends. I won't try to lengthen my long run - it'll be from 60-75 minutes every week, just to build up my endurance. I've done this before but never long enough. I start building too soon and then hurt myself.

If I take 3 months to focus on running 2-3 times a week (yes, I snuck in the 2 there because some weeks I just can't get out for a run on two school days), then maybe by January, I will be ready to start slowly building my long run. I also plan to build my long run slowly, taking a step back week every 3rd week instead of every 4th. I am hoping that this will help keep me from being injured.

During this off-season time, I will also stick with my core and strength program religiously. I will ride my bike indoors or out, but only Zone 2 easy rides to burn calories. I don't want to tire my legs out.

No Oliver Half Iron? :(

The hardest part of all of this, is having to stop triathlon racing between now and June, and primarily that means missing the Oliver Half Iron the first week of June. I find that a really hard decision to make but I know that I won't be able to race a Half Iron one month after running a marathon. I just wouldn't be ready.

However, in 2012, Outback has decided to move the Wine Capital of Canada Sprint and Olympic races to June 17th (instead of mid May) so I think a new goal might be to do the Olympic distance in June. It would be about 6 weeks after a spring marathon - that seems manageable. As you probably know, I've never done an Oly, so maybe this year will be the year I focus on doing a few Olympic distance races.

Training for a Spring Marathon is tough

The other challenge will be doing some of those long runs in the winter when there is snow and ice. The longest I ran last winter on a cold snowy day is 1:45 and that was tough. For that reason, I am giving myself a time goal and a distance goal for each long run. If the conditions are such that my pace is slower than expected, I will stop when I reach my time goal, regardless of the distance done. My plan is to add 15 minutes each week. That is about 1-1 1/2 miles (2-3 km) per week. January will be the toughest with three or four 1:45-2:15 long runs scheduled during the cold, snowy, icy time of year. And no, I don't do treadmills. Maybe with any luck, we'll have another non-winter like last year.

Tentative race plans for the next 12 months

October 9 - 10km race in Kelowna

May 6 - BM Vancouver Marathon (or one of the other two BC marathons in that time period)

June 17 - Oliver Olympic Triathlon

August 19 - Kelowna Apple Olympic Triathlon

Other possibilities

- a few local 5-10k races
- Okanagan College Half Marathon on March 26 (as part of a 27km training run)
- Desert Half Iron in early July (not likely but always possible)

Tomorrow, I'll talk about my lesser goals for the next three months. Stay tuned!

Time to Regroup

2011-09-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

So, I managed to survive the first two weeks of school more or less unscathed. The first week was exhausting as always, and I did not get a single workout in. I was too busy and too tired and it was still hot out so I wouldn't have wanted to run after work even if I had found any energy [insert a plethora of other excuses, some of them being I'm just plain lazy].

School

Although my new class seems to be a good group of kids, I am facing a few other pressures at school this year. I spent a couple of days after school teaching teachers how to do some computer stuff, and although it was my choice and I'm happy to do it, it did take away from my planning/prepping time. In addition, teachers in our province have been without a contract since last June and negotiations are going HORRIBLY. Subsequently, we started the school year with job action which causes some stress and extra work because I am the acting staff rep while another teacher is on sick leave for 2 months. In addition to the regular start up pressures, I have had a number of extra meetings to attend and information to send out to keep teachers informed. For example, last week I had a 7am meeting on Wednesday and a 4-7:30 pm meeting on Thursday and I've had to field many calls and emails to stay on top of things. It's hard to fit in a workout around 12 hour days.

Week two of school was a little better, I started to get things under control and had a bit more energy. I went for a run after work on Tuesday AND Thursday (yay me) this past week, but I did not do any of the other stuff I had been thinking about. This week is the week that I am hoping to add in the "other stuff". As usual, I am recording my goals and my plan here in my blog in a, hopefully not lame, attempt to make myself get stuff done.

Mojo, Where Are You?

If you listen to my podcast, you know I've been suffering for a distinct lack of mojo for the past month or so. In fact, I really haven't been feeling I'm at the top of my game since my "A" race at the Oliver Half Iron last June. Throughout the summer, I decided to kick back and relax and do my training and racing for fun instead of pushing for time goals. A minor foot injury in July kind of forced me into that frame of mind as I prepared for the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 31st, and it carried me through the summer until the Apple Sprint Triathlon on August 21. I found myself becoming something of a "Triathlon Funster" (to steal the title from my twitter friend, Dawne).

Funny thing is, I really enjoyed the "low-keyness" of this style of training and racing - less pressure, more fun. But it also meant less fitness. That part is a little more difficult for me to accept. When I went low-key - riding when and how I feel like riding, swimming minimally only to prep for a race, but continuing to run 3 times a week (mostly 3 times a week, but sometimes only twice) - I found I lost some fitness, particularly on the bike. I guess I'm the only one who can decide if that's a big deal to me or not.

Running Goals

I've also be hashing and rehashing (is hashing a word?) my running goals all summer. Originally I had hoped to do a full marathon October, although in the back of mind, I knew it would be a serious challenge to train for triathlons all summer as well as build up my long run for a fall marathon. After my sore foot injury and SF race, I decided to push the marathon goal back a month and see if a November race might be easier to attain. But it wasn't. My running legs just weren't responding in the way I wanted, and my long runs were a big enough struggle that I couldn't seem to get past the 12km mark. Eventually, I consoled myself with the plan to do a Spring marathon and to shelve all triathlon training throughout the winter, including preparing for the Oliver Half Iron (insert sad face) which is held in June, and just focus on core fitness, strength training, and running. I will spin on the trainer and swim a little as cross training, but do nothing that will fatigue my legs.

Although I have not yet chosen a spring marathon, I have a few possibilities in mind.

* BMO Vancouver (the new course will be revealed in 2 weeks) May 6, 2012
* Elk Lake Trail Marathon (flat easy 4 loop course) in Victoria May 5, 2012
* Run for Water Marathon in Abbotsford, mostly flat - May 29, 2012 (later than I want)
* There's also a flat, marathon length race in Richmond on March 6 but I don't think I'd be ready that early.

In the meantime, I am planning to run my first 10k race on October 9, 2011 here in Kelowna. It's flat and I've never run a 10k race so it should be interesting. I'll be happy if I can break an hour.

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post. Tomorrow, I'm going to decide on my long and short term goals and how I plan to attain them.

Thanks for reading. :)

Six Pounds of Fat

2011-08-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is how much weight I need to lose to once again feel comfortable in my own skin. I was thinking about it when I bought a pound of butter at the store today. I imagined each block of butter and slathering it onto my hips, belly, and butt. Maybe a half pound on each arm.

I know six lbs isn't a lot to some people but on my fairly small frame, it's a lot. I'm now at the point where my clothes feel tight. I need to make some changea. Starting Tuesday, September 6 when I go back to school.

Yep.

Number Crunching

2011-08-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

I was curious about how many kilometres I'd ridden since I started riding my bike in 2006, so I went into my various online records to see what my totals were and decided to put the info into spreadsheet format.

From Beginner Triathlete, I was easily able to get my Swim, Bike, Run totals for 2007 to date, and I still had my bike numbers from 2006 online at Bikejournal.com. It was really interesting to see how the numbers added up. I think I will put this chart onto my "Training" page (see the menu above) so it's easily accessible and I can update it twice a year.

Year	Bike kms	Bike Hours	Run kms	Run Hours	Swim kms	Swim Hours
2006	2774.67	132:38:18	0	0:00:00	0	0:00:00
2007	3472.71	155:13:29	156.36	18:04:02	0	0:00:00
2008	2743.65	117:51:59	508.07	62:18:13	64.45	36:38:01
2009	2152.08	102:06:13	502.33	65:42:47	41.25	20:10:00
2010	2358.59	99:52:27	703.23	89:34:43	96.6	45:37:53
to Aug 2011	1643.56	68:16:42	598.49	69:06:41	19.75	8:32:07

Totals (in miles)	15145.26 (9410.82)	675:59:08	2468.48 (1533.84)	304:46:26	222.05 (137.97)	110:58:01

As you probably know, I'm a numbers junkie. I find it tremendously motivating and I enjoy looking for patterns that help me better understand myself as an athlete. On their own, the totals above don't mean a lot - it's the quality of my day-to-day training that important - but it's stll interesting to see the how far I've come in the past 5 years.

Erik and I were discussing the role technology plays in training today, after he read a facebook comment by somebody suggesting that we need to throw out our computers and just get out and ride (or swim or run). I think that in some situations, and for some people, this might be a good idea. But for me, keeping track of my training is a very enjoyable and motivating aspect of working out. Most days when I finish a workout, the very first thing I do is sit down at my computer to upload or record my data, even before I shower. ;) The feeling of accomplishment is tremendous.

If you do not currently keep track of your riding, running, or swimming - I encourage you to sign up for one of the many free online journals such as Bikejournal, Beginner Triathlete, Dailymile, or Training Peaks and give it try. If you're not a computer nerd, you can buy a cheap notebook and record your training long hand.

And you don't need a computer to figure out how far you're run or ridden. There are many free online mapping websites such as Map My Run that will do the figuring out for you, not to mention many apps that are available for your smartphone.

But no matter how you decide to record your info, the most important thing is to get out there and do it!

When Worlds Collide

2011-08-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have tried hard to keep my "real life" and my "internet life" separate, but after 4 years online, it's getting a bit more challenging. I realize of course, that anyone can look up my race results online and get my real name, but so far I've avoided having my real name in print on the same page as Kelownagurl. In other words, if you googled one, you wouldn't find the other.

However, I had an opportunity a few weeks ago that I just couldn't pass up - Adriana Barton, a journalist for Canada's National Newspaper - the Globe and Mail, was doing a piece on the huge influx of middle class professionals getting into triathlon. In her research, she stumbled across my account on Beginner Triathlete, checked out my blog. and emailed me to request a phone interview.

Naturally I was suspicious - I get a lot of weird email, and the last thing I wanted to do was make a fool of myself, responding to spam. However, I checked out her articles in the Globe and Mail online and I emailed the newspaper to confirm she was legit, and then I contacted her and said I'd be happy to chat with her on the phone. She was easy to talk to and I really enjoyed talking with her.

I was still a little nervous about what she might take away from our conversation and put into print, but I was pleasantly surprised when I checked out the article on Monday morning (August 22) and relieved to find she was able to make me sound reasonably intelligent. :)

At any rate, I'm not sure how long the article will be available online but here is a link to the article "Weekend warriors race to sign up for short triathlons" for now. Of course, I bought a couple copies of the newspaper to keep for myself. And hey, if you read the article online, click the tweet, share, or like buttons at the bottom of the article, or leave a comment! Thanks!

So there you go, Kelownagurl and the real me, all on the same page. Well, not on this blog haha, but it is out there! Yikes! Now what?

The MRI

2011-08-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

So, I had foolishly read a number of stories online about how horrifically painful it is to have to dye injected for the arthrogram and not surprisingly, I was pretty anxious heading into the Xray department at the hospital this morning. However, a few friends told me they'd had the same procedure and found it more than manageable so I tried to keep that in focus.
A little background info, for those who do not read my blog on a regular basis. I have some very mild arthritis and small bones spurs in my hips. I've had some nagging mild pain when I move my hip in certain positions but nothing too bothersome, and definitely nothing that has directly affected my swim, bike, run. My PT, Chiro, and I have discussed the possibility that I could be compensating for my affected hip and this may be causing some of the running injuries I seem to suffer with, but we really don't know for sure.

Fast forward to this past winter. At the end of December, and in early January, Erik and I started skate skiing. I found it really hard and challenging but I liked it, so I spent about 3 hours the first day practicing the lateral movement over and over again, trying to get the hang of it. Naturally, the next day, I was sore, and I mean REALLY sore, especially my groin muscles and adductors.

That evening, I bent down to pick something up and something in my left hip snapped, sending me to the ground, writhing in agony. It lasted for a few minutes and then subsided. I thought that obviously I'd really pushed too hard and would need to take a few more days to heal. I was super careful not to turn my left knee out as that was the movement that seemed to make it snap. Within a few days, the wort was over but I continued to have a lot of nagging pain and I had to be really careful with my left hip when I was skate skiing.

For the next few months. I tried a number of treatments from ART to IMS but nothing seemed to last. Finally, the Chiro recommended I get an xray, and my doctor recommended I also see a sport specialist who diagnosed it as a likely a torn labrum. You can see more info about that in my blog here.

In early May, I was put on the waitlist for an MRI, expecting to wait 8-10 months, and was told I could continue to swim, bike, run so long as I was not suffering any pain. By this time, skate ski season was done anyway so it wasn't too difficult to avoid the movements that cause pain. Then last week, only 3 months later. I got a call to come in for my MRI! and that brings us up to today.

So what was it REALLY like?

I arrived at the xray department at 8am - I was allowed to have a normal breakfast (I didn't eat because I was too nervous), but no makeup, no hair product, no jewelry. I knew I was going to be anxious so I took 1mg of ativan as soon as I got to the hospital (I had my own and they said it was fine to take it). It really helped make me feel much less anxious.

I checked in and waited in a chair for about 10 minutes, then I was given a gown to wear and I packed my clothes into a bag, filled out a checklist form, and was left to wait in another chair for about 15 minutes.

Then I was brought into an xray room and I had to lay on a bed. He exposed my hip, cleaned it with iodine stuff, and brought the xray machine over top of it so he could watch what he was doing when he inserted the needles. I choose to stare off in space and not look at the needles. I also was prepared to dig my nails into my forearm if anything hurt so I could take my attention away from the source of pain.

The doctor was very good. He told me exactly what he was doing at all times and was quick. First he injected some freezing into my hip. I barely felt the needle go in and only a small amount of burning as the freezing went in. This literally only lasted a few seconds and didn't bother me at all.

Then he took some time to insert a (or possibly more than one) needle into my hip so the dye would get right into the joint space. I felt no pain when he did this other than a little pressure.

Once he had it exactly where he wanted it, he told me he was going to inject the dye and that I would feel pressure as the joint filled up. It definitely felt pressure, tight, and a bit of an overall ache but nothing I would categorize as "painful". As soon as he took the needle(s) out and I could move my leg a bit, it felt much better and from then on, nothing hurt at all.

I was moved to a wheelchair and moved to the MRI area. The person ahead of me had moved during their MRI so they had to redo a section so I waited there for about 15-20 minutes. It was hard to tell because I was kind of buzzed out on the ativan.

Finally it was my turn. I got up on the table, they gave me ear plugs, and put some sort of harness thing on my chest and some pads under my arms which were stretched out. I was also given a ball to hold and squeeze if I needed help for any reason. They made sure I was comfortable because I wasn't allowed to move for 30 minutes. At that point I was really glad I had the ativan because I am a pretty fidgety person at the best of times. They slid me into the tube and started up the machine. It was REALLY loud, even with my ear plugs, and it made a lot of different sounds, kind of like a machine gun or a jack hammer. Although nothing was touching me, I could feel pressure from the sounds on my hip and groin. Weird. I just dozed off and on, they would talk to me once in awhile and let me know things were going well and ask how I was doing. Finally it was over, I changed back into my clothes, called Erik and he came to pick me up.

The freezing started to come out in about an hour and my hip is sore and feels a bit weak, and affects my range of motion. They told me to take it easy today and just relax so I have. Always nice to have a forced rest day. :) :)

SO - if you are ever going to have a hip arthrogram, DON'T read up on it on the internet. This was definitely not a painful procedure. Most of the stuff I've had done on physio is MUCH more painful. :)

And so, the doctor is supposed to get my report on Friday so I made an appt at 11:45. Unfortunately, the doctor who recommended the MRI is on holiday until mid September so I will be seeing somebody else. That may be a good thing though - maybe I'll have two opinons then.

There are lots of ways to deal with and treat a torn labrum, IF that's what I have. Here is a link with some good information. I am hoping to find a non surgical treatment if possible - we shall see.

Post-Race Musings

2011-08-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well, another Pushor Mitchell Apple Triathlon is in the bag - and I had a GREAT day! The weather was perfect, the organizers and volunteers excellent, and the competition fierce. I am so happy that I entered the race again this year even if I hadn't done any race-specific training in the past few months, and it looks like my overall fitness was able to carry me through.

The Stats

Time: 1:31:21 (Goal: 1:33:00)

Swim: 16:21 (Goal: under 16:30)
T1: 3:31 (Goal: 3:00 - again had trouble pulling wetsuit off left foot because of hip)
Bike: 41:18 (Goal: under 42:00)
T2: 1:46 (Goal: 1:30)
Run: 28:26 (Goal: under 30:00)

Analysis

Overall, I'm happy with my race. I had a lot of fun and I beat all of my goals with the exception of my transition times. I still seem to struggle with working quickly and efficiently in this area. Until my hip is better, I will have trouble getting my wetsuit off in races where there is no wetsuit stripping so that much is beyond my means, but I clearly dawdled in T2 - there's no reason to be 20 seconds slower than last year. I didn't FEEL like I was dawdling but I can't explain why I was so much slower. I put my socks on in T1 this year too. I need to practice more I guess.

I'm happiest with my swim - my swim time was EXACTLY the same as last year's swim time, amazingly enough. I have only swum 19,000m this year (8 hours in total) and most of that was before my June Half Iron. I only swam 2600m in July and 4000m in August.

HOWEVER, I do not recommend my haphazard swim training by any means. I think I've been extremely lucky not to have my lackadaisical approach come back and bite me. Now that Erik is interested in triathlon, I would like to hire a swim coach to work with the two of us once a week for a month or so and help me correct my stroke. I'm convinced that with continued upper body strength work and some stroke correction, I can shave at least a minute or two off my sprint swim time.

I was pleasantly surprised by my run - as I mentioned in my previous post, I had no idea if I'd be able to run a sub 30 minute 5k at this point, but happily, I did! And now, the day after, my legs are feeling pretty darn good. I'm pretty sure I will recover from this race pretty quickly, and with any luck at all, I'll be able to do my planned 16km run next weekend.

I am most disappointed by my bike leg. I knew it wasn't going to be up to par because I haven't put enough time into my bike training this summer, but it still bugs me to see it in print. My time was only 25 seconds slower than last year but truth be told, that 25 second difference is deceiving. Last year I had some wind to contend with and this year's conditions were perfect. It's really more like a 2-3 minute difference. I'm not too worried about my bike fitness though - I know it just takes more time in the saddle and that's easily remedied.

Placing in this race:

11/22 in my age group (Women 50-54)

On an interesting side note - last year's personal best time of 1:29:18, which gave me a 4th place in my age group, would only have given my 9th place this year. That goes to show you that you never know who is going to show up in any given race - so it's best to only race against yourself. :)

133/263 in women (My bike was my strongest leg, 107/263)

292/466 overall (Again, my bike was my strongest leg, 267/466)

What did I learn?

It felt great to do a race just for the fun of it and not worry too much about how well I would do. With my current focus on marathon training, it's pretty hard to simultaneously train for a sprint triathlon, but that's no reason to miss a fun, local race, just because I know it's not going to be a personal best this time.

When you're a newcomer to the sport, it's quite possible to make drastic improvements every time you race - your training becomes more and more race specific and it's not too hard to beat your last time, every time you race. But after awhile, those improvements may only be a few seconds in any given leg of the race, and oftentimes, you may peak in one area but fall off in another.

As always, my main goal is always to have fun and stay fit, and keep facing those fears! I think my greatest achievement in the past year is to finally be past the swim demons. I find that I now feel very confident in the water and yet I also know that no matter what happens, I will always be able to calm myself down and continue on in a race. That has been my biggest challenge over the past 4 years and it's a good feeling to know I have finally kicked it.

Coming Up

* My hip MRI and arthrogram is tomorrow - I'll post about it when I get the results.
* Back to marathon training - long run on the weekend - hopefully 16 km (10 miles)
* Another tweetup - Erik and I spent some quality time this weekend with our friend Chad from the Can Do Tri Podcast.
* KG in the news? More info to come. Stay tuned!

Twas the Night Before Triathlon

2011-08-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

So it's my 4th Apple Sprint Triathlon - what's the race plan this year?

First off, it wasn't my typical Day-Before-The-Race for me. Erik and I went to bed early so we could get up at 5am and get to Erik's FIRST ever triathlon this morning!!!! Whooo hooo!!!

As a last minute decision, Erik signed up for the Kelowna Apple Try-A-Tri with a 300m swim, 15k flat bike, and 3k flat run, and in typical "Kelownaguy" fashion, did some last minute swim cramming to prepare for his race. Once he confirmed that that the water was indeed only 3-4 feet deep, following the shoreline, he knew he'd be able to complete the race, so he swam almost every day at the pool or at the lake, to get himself ready. By race day, he knew he'd be able to do the 300m swim about 10-11 minutes, using a variety of strokes and allowing himself a few stops to catch his breath.

In the end, he killed the race, coming in 19th overall (109 people), 14/45 men, 2/4 in his age group. Here are his splits.

Swim: 10:48
T1: 2:31
Bike: 26:38 (2nd overall in the bike - yahoo!)
T2: 1:22
Run: 15:04

I was so proud of his efforts - great work honey!

After the race, we went home for a shower and lunch, then we picked up our friend Chad (from the Can Do Tri Podcast) and went down to Tugboat Bay to swim the race course while the log boom was still set up. We met up with our friend Darryl H and Catherine (Tiscath) down at the beach as well.

I went out at a steady but comfortable pace in the choppy water and felt really good. I finished the swim in 16:37 which was considerably faster than I was expecting so I will revise my previous goal is 18:00 down to 16:30. I'm pretty sure I can swim it faster but we'll see how I feel in the bigger crowd. Previous swim times were: 2008 - 17:30, 2009 - 16:27, 2010 - 16:21

I still don't know how the bike is going to go but I'm hoping I'm not much slower that 42 minutes, especially if there is no wind like there was for the past two years.

And as for the run, well, I haven't run a fast 5k since last year so I think a goal of just under 30 minutes should be reasonable.

16:30 + 3:00 + 42:00 + 1:30 + 30:00 = 1:33:00 and there you have it.

For the most part, I just want to go out and have fun - I love this race!

If you are interested, here are my previous race reports for the Apple Triathlon:

2008 Apple Sprint Triathlon Race Report

2009 Apple Sprint Triathlon Race Report

2010 Apple Sprint Triathlon Race Report

So that's it - holy cow, I'm doing it again!!

Summer

2011-08-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, where to begin?

First off, I cut and pasted my last two race reports straight from Daily Mile so I at least have a written record of them here on my blog. How incredibly lazy of me not to have posted for so long.

What can I say - I've been enjoying my summer! July was pretty busy with 2 races, and at least 4 trips to and from Osoyoos to ride, race, and visit family and friends. Before we knew it, it was time to head to San Francisco for our vacation/race. We spent 2 nights in Santa Cruz, then 3 nights in San Francisco, got to meet a whole bunch of online friends at two amazing tweetups, toured the coast, Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel, saw the sites of San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz (order your tickets at least 2 weeks in advance!), China Town, Lombard Street, and of course, the amazing race which had us run along the waterfront as well as across the Golden Gate bridge. An awesome trip!

Once back in Kelowna, it was suddenly August and the heat had finally hit. I had been hampered by a minor foot injury early in July and although it now seems to be healed, my long runs are behind putting my hoped-for October marathon plans at risk. In fact, I think I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be able to run a full marathon on October 9. To try to build up my long run between now and then would be fool-hardy and would likely lead to further injury. So - I am now looking at a possible marathon on November 6th either in the Vancouver area, or possible, in Hamilton, Ontario, thanks to the generous offer from podcast listener and online friend, Sheryl and her husband.

At this point, I will take a 'wait and see' stance before I commit to either option. Mainly, I will be waiting to see if my legs can handle the long training runs, but also, I will have to see what happens with my finances. I return to school on September 6th having taken a strike vote last June, and in all likelihood, I will find myself out on strike for a period of time, at some point this fall. In some ways, this could work to my advantage because I might be able to stay an extra day or so in Ontario if I'm not working, but of course, it also means, I will lose several weeks wages and may not be able to afford to take the trip at all.

And so I wait. That's ok, I'm used to waiting. :)

Mojo

I seem to have been struggling with serious training since my "A" race last June. That's the trouble with an early A race I guess. I've had one excuse after another to not get my training back on a serious schedule. It seems like I'm much more interested in doing 5 hours a week during my summer vacation, than the necessary 10-12 hours a week for a good race.

I debated for several weeks whether I would sign up for the Apple triathlon this year but in the end, I couldn't bring myself to miss it, even if I knew if wasn't going to be a top performance. I decided that I'd much rather go out and have fun experienced the race, than I would skipping it just because I wasn't in peak shape. And so, in a few days, I will be doing my 4th Kelowna Apple Sprint Triathlon.

Goal - finish with a huge smile on my face because I'm alive and I can do a race like this for fun, dammit!! (Best time: 1:29:18 in 2010, Worst time: 1:33:11 in 2009 )

Swim: Under 20 minutes (Best time: 16:21 in 2010, Worst time: 17:30 in 2008)
Bike: Under 45 minutes (Best time: 38:18 in 2008, Worst time: 40:53 in 1010)
Run: Under 30 minutes (Best time: 27:39 in 2010, Worst time: 31:01 in 2009 )

Two exciting bonuses about the race this weekend - Erik signed up for his first try-a-tri on Saturday! and Chad, from the Can Do Tri podcast is coming to race in Kelowna. Another tweetup! How cool!

And so that's the Cole's Notes version of my summer so far. Now that I have that pesky "first-post-after-a-long-time-away" done, I will get back into a more regular blog posting format. I miss it.

San Francisco First Half Marathon - July 31, 2011

2011-07-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

21:43 km in 2:26:39

I had only done 2 short runs while recovering from injury in the 3 weeks leading up to the race, so my plan was to go out easy for the first 10km and then possibly walk/run the last half if needed. My goal was the finish in 2:30-2:45 if possible, definitely under the cut off of 3 hours.

Erik and I were up at 4:45, got dressed and walked 6 blocks to the race start. We left our extra clothing at the check point, got to our wave (6), and I got in line for the bathroom. After waiting 15 minutes, it was clear I wasn't going to get in before the race started, so I left the line and headed to the starting line with the hope that I could use the porto-potties at the 4km mark. In retrospect, I should have just waited and started in a later wave since it's a chip timed race, that way the bathroom break time wouldn't be a part of my race time. Ah well - live and learn.

We started out slow for the 1st 4km, at about a 6:45 min km (11 min mile), and then I stopped at the bathrooms and lost 4-5 minutes waiting in line there. Erik and I both shed our extra shirts and I tucked mine into the back pocket of my tank top and we were back on our way, headed for the Holden Gate Bridge.

The sun was up by now and I was warmed up, and although it was cloudy/foggy, we could still see the top of the bridge. We kept a steady pace along the flats, then slowed down a little climbing up to and across the bridge. We took quite a few pictures along the way.

When we got to the other side of the bridge, at about the half way point of the race, I decided I was feeling pretty good so we decided to pick up the pace for the last half. We ran about a 6-7 min km (10-11 min mile), depending on the terrain - there are a number of hills in the second half so that slowed me a little. I was running at LT for most of the second half and it was hard work but I felt good. Erik was happy that we were running faster too, but he was great and stayed with me the whole time regardless of my pace.

The race was over all too quickly it seemed, maybe because it was the first time I wasn't running alone, and we crossed the finish line, hand in hand, in 2:26:39. If I hadn't stopped for the bathroom, I would have beaten my Victoria Half marathon time of 2:23, but I wasn't close to my PR in March of 2:12.

No worries - I beat my goal time and was super happy to be able to run strong for the whole race, with no serious walking required. And we had a negative split - 1:16 for the first half and 1:10 for the second half. Not bad considering the 2nd half is a lot harder terrain.

I was REALLY sore for the two days following because I was so out of shape for a long run but I am hopeful that I will be able to do an easy run tomorrow (Thursday) and get back on track for marathon training ASAP.

You can check out my pics on my facebook page http://facebook.com/kelownagurl

Osoyoos Desert Half Iron Relay - July 9, 2011

2011-07-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today Erik, my brother-in-law Yogi, and I did the Osoyoos Desert Half Iron as a relay. My brother-in-law is a cyclist only so he got to do the bike, I was the only one who could swim, and that left Erik with the run. Our team name was Sangria Threea and our combined age was 176 years old!

Although I had a tough start for the two lap swim, I was pretty content with my time, since it was faster than my time at the Oliver Half 5 weeks ago. However, this is really just more proof that the Oliver swim course was long, since I know I swam faster there than I did today.
I had a crappy first lap because I forgot to bring my inhaler with me and it turns out that, yes, I do need my puffer before every race, even if I'm only swimming (in fact, especially if I'm swimming). The minor asthma attack was triggered early on when I got a face full of water when I lifted my head to sight, and inhaled some of it. Once I coughed most of it, my chest still felt really tight and I started feeling panicky to the point that I had to flip onto my back and kick for a few minutes to settle my nerves. I managed to talk myself down and flip back over to start swimming and by the time I passed the first yellow buoy I was feeling better and more confident, although I knew I was very very close to the back of the back. At this point, my goggles were so totally fogged up that I could not see where I was going AT ALL, so again I had to stop to pull them off and clear them, losing more precious time and making me feel more anxious about being so slow.

When I passed the 2nd yellow buoy, I decided to start pushing it a little harder but each time I took a breath, I could hear myself wheezing pretty badly. I was nervous to push too hard in case I had a full blown asthma attack in the water so I went back to a slow, steady swim.
I was pretty unsteady when I got out of the water to run around the cone and start the second lap and my team was a little worried but I actually felt quite a bit better by then. I was pleasantly surprised to see my time at that point was about 24:30 (I had told Erik I'd start the second lap at 25 minutes), so I was hopeful that I'd be able to do the second lap a little faster. I tried to focus on swimming straight and steady and not so fast that I had to breathe too hard, and the second lap was fairly uneventful.

I got out of the water and ran down the beach to cross the timing mat at 49:28, thirty seconds faster than my goal, and a minute faster than Oliver. Still, in the strong field of triathletes at the Desert Half, I was much further back in the pack even with a faster swim time, and there were only about 10 swimmers (out of 230) who were slower than me. :D

I bypassed the wetsuit strippers and ran straight to transition where my brother-in-law, Yogi was waiting to start the bike leg. He took off and had a great bike ride and managed to pass 35+ people who had passed me in the swim, but unfortunately he cramped up just as he was climbing the back of Richter and ended up losing a little time near the end. Still, he finished with a respectable time of 3:35, not bad for a guy who's 64.

Kelownaguy T. (Erik) was the star of the team though, when he came in to save the day and finish up our race with a kick ass half marathon time of 1:58:09, more than 14 minutes faster than his best 21km run to date. Way ta go baby!!!!

Our team came in 3rd place in the relay division with an overall time of 6:24:40. Great fun!!!!
Best part of the day was watching all of our friends out there on the race course including Erin L. , Brent P. , James Y. , Tamara, and a few others who are not on Daily Mile. Great day and congrats to all of these amazing athletes!!

Water temp was about 18C, air temp in the morning was about 16C, and it warmed up to about 28C by the end of the afternoon. The day started off sunny but most of the day had light cloud which kept the temps cooler for the bike and run.

Our team race number. Osoyoos Desert Half Iron.

2011-07-09T18:31:00.001-07:00

School's (almost) Out!

2011-06-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

....and it can't happen a moment too soon. The last few weeks have been exhausting and it all finally caught up with me Sunday night and Monday - headache and fatigue to the point of nausea. I actually ended up missing the 2nd to last day of work, and our year end beach party. I spent most of the day sleeping and then later in the day, I started to feel a little more alive. With any luck, I'll feel my old self again tomorrow, my last day with kids.

So what's been going on with me? Well with the usual June school craziness, endless Canucks games ending with a crushing defeat, helping my daughter find an apartment for her move to Vancouver, and Erik's race this past weekend, it's been too hectic to do much training. I have not been swimming or biking at all this month but I have attempted to get a few runs in. It's been a long haul since June 6th though, and it's taking awhile for my legs to feel back to normal. For a couple of weeks, I found I needed to take walk breaks during my run and then I did manage a steady 10km run last weekend that felt good. I only had time to run once during the week though and then I ran 13km this past Sunday. I knew my legs were still feeling heavy and tire easily so I decided right at the start to run 9/1 so I could be sure to get the entire distance in. The first hour felt good, the last 30 minutes were more difficult but I was happy to have done a decent 13 km.

I am also finding that my HR is quickly moving into Zone 3 whenever I run right now, despite the fact that all my runs were in low Zone 2 in the last 6 weeks of my half iron training. I suspect that over the next few weeks, my fitness will increase and I'll be able to stay in Zone 2 again. Of course, the other problem is that I've been running in warmer weather - that seems to increase my HR as well. Now that summer holidays are beginning, I'm planning to do most of my runs in the early morning, before it gets hot.

CORE

I started doing Gordon's (from This Running Life) Around the World core workout, which he got from Beginner Triathlete. I started slow and only did it twice as week as recommended, but my plan is to increase the frequency once school is out. I will also do some of the other core exercises I was doing in the winter to mix it up a bit.

UPPER BODY STRENGTH

This summer, I've also decided to focus on upper body strength, in particular swim-specific dryland exercises to complement my lack of swim training. My thinking is that the main reason I lost a couple of minutes in my swim time was the loss of strength in the pull phase of my swim. My theory is that if I focus on building upper body strength, I can continue with my minimal swim training and maintain my swim fitness. I really don't feel it's worth it for me to spend hours and hours in the pool/lake and only gain a minute or two in swim time. That time is much better spent biking, running, and drinking wine.

LOWER BODY STRENGTH

My summer goal for the lower body is to continue to strengthen the gluteus medius to help stabilize my hip. Overall, so long as I am careful with my movements, my groin/hip has not been bothering me much. The only time it has hurt is when I've spent a lot of time walking (ie 10km round Vancouver a couple week ago). I am optimistic that strengthening my core and the surrounding muscles will help keep any further damage in check until I can get my MRI.

UPCOMING RACES

July 9 - Desert Half Iron in Osoyoos. Erik and his brother want me to do join their relay team and do the swim. I find this amusing since my swim is so sucky but as long as Erik's legs are capable of running a half marathon, I will do the swim for them. Yogi will do the bike.

July 31 - San Francisco First Half Marathon. Erik and I are signed up and we plan to do this race for fun, and run together!

August 21 - Apple Triathlon - I'll do either the sprint or the olympic - haven't decided yet.

October 9 - Okanagan Marathon. Yes, you read that right. I have 15 weeks to train for my first marathon. I am optimistic that this is the year. I hope. Only time will tell. :)

Oliver Half Iron Race Report 2011

2011-06-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well it's done - another half iron in the bag. And the best news is - I met my goals!

First the stats, because that's the part you really want to know about.

Swim:      51:07    (Goal: 45-50 min)
T1:            8:34     (Goal: 8:00-9:00 min)
Bike:    3:16:57   (Goal: 3:25-3:30)
T2:           4:47      (Goal: 4:00-5:00 min)
Run: 2:36:31    (Goal: 2:25-2:45)

Total Time: 6:57:53 (6:35-7:00)

Then the Story: An Eventful Weekend

I packed up all my gear Thursday night and Erik picked me up right after school Friday so we could head down to Oliver and get to packet pick up before registration closes at 5:00. We made it in time and I managed to get my wrist band and swim cap, but unfortunately, my race bag had accidentally been given away to the wrong person. The RD suggested I come back Saturday afternoon and see if it had been returned, since my name is on the bib and they person will eventually notice.

Afterwards, we went down to the lake to check out the water temperature and I decided to take an impromptu swim. It was a bit chilly to put my face in, but once I was under a few times, I felt comfortable and I swam about 300 meters along the shoreline. I definitely felt like I was ready to do the swim as it was much warmer than 3 weeks ago at the sprint.

After getting dressed, we drove the 20 minutes to Osoyoos and checked into out hotel. Or rather, we tried to check into the hotel. After much searching, the clerk was unable to find our reservation. Once again, heart began to beat a little faster - first my race bag, now my hotel reservation. And there are few, if any, rooms available in town with the race on. I had to go back to the car and bring in my computer print out of my reservation to prove I actually had paid for the room (via Hotwire). As it turned out, they had no more junior suites, so we had to be upgraded to a lovely one bedroom (thank goodness they had a few available).

We finally got up to our room, unpacked and relaxed for awhile, before venturing out to have a lovely meal at the Italian restaurant, Campo Marino. I had gnocchi with meat sauce which was delicious. Earlier in the afternoon, I had been chatting with Gina (@SheTrisAll3) on Twitter, and it turned out she was at the same restaurant. I walked around until I found her and we had a quick chat. She and her family seemed very nice, and I ran into her a couple more times during the weekend.

We had a fairly early night of it and then went out for breakfast at the Holiday Inn where we met up with Darryl (@DarrylH from Twitter). We chatted about the race and our Garmins, then headed back to hotel where I relaxed while Erik went for a run. It was hot and sunny so when he got back, we went down to the pool and lay in the sun and read for an hour or so. Eventually, it was time to head back to Oliver.

I was surprised to find out my race bag till hadn't been turned in so the RD gave me 2 choices. Wait until the race meeting, or get a new number. A new number would mean I wouldn't have my name on my bib and I wouldn't be with my age group in the transition zone. I opted to wait, but asked if they'd let me check my bike in without the number for now. We headed back to check out the expo when I got a call that my bag had turned up so we had to make another trip to transition before things were finally put right. We went to the Expo and sat with our friends Rob and Carmelle, and then headed back to our hotel for the night. Erik watched the hockey game while I packed everything up and got my race gear all ready to go for a quick departure in the morning. I went to bed around 9:30, took half an ativan, and slept well until the alarm went off at 4:45 am.

Race Day

Although I had most of my stuff ready to go, it still took us almost an hour to get on the road. I was only able to eat a little yogurt before we left but I wasn't too worried. We got to the race site about 6:05 and Erik dropped me off to pick up my timing chip and get body marked. I ran into Paul Eby and said a quick hello. Erik passed my gear over the fence and I quickly got transition set up then headed to the long line for the porto-potties. Unfortunately, the ones I chose ended up being a VERY long time and by the time it was my turn, they were already calling us to leave transition. I hurried to get my wetsuit on, took one last look at my setup, and hurried down to the beach. I wasn't too worried because I was in the 3rd wave, but I wouldn't have minded a couple more minutes to make sure everything was set up right. It all turned out ok though.

The day was already warm and sunny and the highs were expected to be at least 30C (86F). Very few of us had had any training runs in the heat due to a cool spring so we were not looking forward to the run. The upside was that I didn't need to worry about taking in extra clothes for the bike - I'd be plenty warm enough.

The Swim - 51:07
Estimated 2100-2200m
Pace 2:20-2:25 /100m

26/49 AG
254/327 Women
664/783 overall

My wave left at 7:14am and I got into the middle of the pack and just started swimming. My goal was to try to swim straight, the go steady to the first buoy (900m), pick up my speed a little to the 2nd buoy (1600m) and then swim hard for the last 400m. My time at the first buoy was about 20 minutes so I felt I was on pace at 2:13/100m. I felt good and picked up my pace a little but was surprised to be closer to 40 minutes at the 1600m point. (2:30/100m). The last 400m plus the run through wetsuit strippers to the timing mat, put me at 51 minutes for the swim. It didn't make sense to me because I really felt I was swimming about 2:15 / 100m like I always do. Later I heard this was a common complaint among the athletes, and many people thought the swim course was long, possibly 100m over.

This year I left my flip flops on the beach and was able to wear them the half km run to transition.

T1 - 8:34

38/49 AG
267/327 women
666/783 overall

I tried to move a little faster this year and managed to cut off over a minute off my time, but judging by my placing, this is clearly an area where I could lose another minute or so.

The Bike - 3:16:57
91.1 km - avg speed 27.8 kmh 17.3 mph

23/49 AG
194/327 women
594/783 overall

I felt great on the bike and as usual, I was able to pass lots of people. Keep in mind that I'm in the 3rd wave (women 45+ and men 50+) and all the younger, and faster, people are already gone, ahead of me. :) My goal was to keep a steady pace and a steady heart rate but I was feeling strong and was able to push the pace a little faster than I had planned. The best news was that there was no wind. What a huge bonus! I had given Erik last year's splits for certain points, and each time, I came in ahead by 3-5 minutes. In the end, I was done about 7 minutes faster than last year. The course claims to be 93 km, but it's really only 91.1 km. I drank my aero bottle and emptied two regular bottles into it as well. I was out of fluid for the last 25 minutes but didn't bother to stop and refill at an aid station.

The only down point of the bike was when a truck stopped right in front of me and I actually had to unclip and stop my bike. Argh. Other than that, the ride was uneventful and my second lap was only slightly slower than my first. My knee had started to tighten up halfway through the second lap and I began to worry that I'd have the same ITB/knee issue as last year so I was a little more conservative on the hills after that point.

T2 - 4:47

36/49 AG
244/327 women
614/783 overall

As soon as I hit T2, I stopped at the porto-potties at the entrance, then ran my bike to my spot. A quick change of shoes and hat, grabbed my water bottle and left transition. I forgot to hit my Garmin when I crossed the timing mat so my run data was about 200m short.

The Run - 2:36:31
Approximately 22 km
Pace 7:06/km 11:26/mile

27/49 AG
222/317 women
591/783 overall

Right away, I noticed two things: my legs felt great and it was freaking hot. Super duper hot. Unbearably hot.

I was running a good pace right away and my legs felt good. No ITB problems, no sore shins, no sore foot, no sore PTT. My first 4 km were all about 6:15-6:30 / km and that included walking up the small hills. My goal pace was about 6:30 / km so I was right on track.

The problem was - my heart race was crazy high. In all my training runs, including all my brick runs, my heart rate is usually high zone 1, low zone 2. Today, it was well into Zone 4 and climbing. This would not do. I had to get it down so I stopped and walked for 20-30 seconds. Once it was down to zone 3, I ran again. But it just kept slowly climbing back up again. As soon as I hit the first aid station, I grabbed some sponges and tucked them under the straps of my tank top. I poured water over my head every chance I got, and I took ran through the sprinklers that were out on the course. Although my heart rate lowered a little for the second half of the run, I was getting really tired and continued to take frequent walk breaks throughout the run. The last 5-7 km were really hard. I just wanted it to be over at that point but I struggled on. I tried to dig deep and played little games to make myself run to the next spot before I could allow myself to walk for 10 seconds.

Erik kept popping up on the course, cheering me on, and that really really helped. I looked forward to seeing him and it encouraged me to keep on running so I'd see him at the next point. Eventually I was on the last 2-3 km. I had been watching my watch and was trying really hard to come in under 7 hours.At the 1 km mark, I saw Erik walking ahead. He was heading back to the finish line and I was gaining on him. I called out and he was surprised to see me. He had to run some of the last km in order to get there in time to get my picture. :)

I seemed to be on track for a 2:30 half marathon but again, it turned out the course was long (my Garmin said 21.8 km but I had missed about 200m after the timing mat, so it was pretty close to 22 km over all.) The official results say my pace was 7:24 / km but it was actually 7:09 according to my Garmin. And my Garmin is always right. :)

The End - 6:57:54

22/49 AG
217/327 women
604/783 overall

Overall, I am VERY happy with my race. My transition times were faster, my bike was surprisingly faster, and my run was faster. I was even impressed with my swim considering I only swam 7-8 times since last August. I believe the extra length in the course accounted in part for the places where my times seemed a bit slow, and given the extreme heat, I am very very happy to have my run within my goal range.

I had very sore quads, lower calf/achilles, and back muscles on Monday and Tuesday, but today (Wednesday) I am feeling much better and I may be able to go for an easy run tomorrow.

Next up - a fun 5k! The Women's Run on Sunday. I hope. :)

Countdown to my 2nd Half Ironman

2011-05-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

The Oliver Half Ironman - beautiful course through the South Okanagan wine country - rolling hills, pretty lake, and vineyard upon vineyard. What's not to like? This race is a popular one and is now sold out with over 1000 athletes racing this year.

This description is taken directly from the race website.

"Located in the beautiful south Okanagan community of Oliver, BC, this race is a half Ironman distance competition consisting of a 2 km swim, 93 km bike and 21.1 km run. The race features a 2-loop swim in the protected waters of Tuc-el-Nuit Lake in the heart of Oliver, a 2 loop bike course in the lower Okanagan Valley featuring parts of the famous Ironman Canada course past Oliver wineries and ends with a 2-loop run through quiet residential neighborhood and along the banks of the Okanagan River."

So last year I did this race as my first half ironman distance. I had not previously run a full 21 km before and my running was only sub par. Be that as it may, I actually experienced my problems while on the bike, with a very tight IT band that locked up at the knee and caused me to limp through the run. I was happy with my 45 minute swim, my 3:22 bike, but my walk/run was deadly slow at 2:58. I also dawdled through the transitions and ended the race with a time of 7:24:something. But I finished and I was relatively happy about that accomplishment.

Goals

I've been mulling over my race plan and goals for the past few weeks and for the most part, I think my original goals still stand. Overall goal - beat last year's time by actually running all, or most, of the run.

My individual goals have changed a little though. I suspect my swim and bike will be a little slower than last year - maybe up to 5 minutes slower on the swim and 5-10 minutes slower on the bike. This is only based on recent training rides that I've done. But it's hard to say. I'm going to hurry up a little in transition but the fact remains that T1 is 1/2 km from the lake and even the fastest athlete has a minimum 4-5 min T1. Mine was 9 min, avg was 7-8 min. I"ll try to chop one minute off.

Swim - 45-50 minutes (45:17 last year)

Bike - 3:20-3:30 (3:22 last year)

Run - 2:20-2:30

T1 and T2 - 12 minutes

What does that add up to? Looks like 6:35-7:00. And yeah, I'd be happy with anything in that range since my main hope is to take half an hour off last years run.

Race Plan

Travel and Accommodation

Leave right after work on Friday and spend two nights in Osoyoos. This will mean a more relaxing time overall. I will pick up my race packet when I drive through Oliver on Friday night, go for a swim in the lake on Saturday afternoon, meetup with some internet friends, leave my bike in transition, and attend the race meeting from 5-6pm on Saturday. Then I'll head back to the hotel for quiet relaxation, an easy dinner, and early sleep.

Gear

* Sugoi tank top and 2XU tri shorts (extra jersey at T1 in needed)
* Wetsuit, extra silicone swim cap, flip flops, bodyglide
* Bike with aerobottle and two seat bottles
* Shoes, gloves, helmet, sunglasses
* Garmin and watch, HR strap
* Newtons, socks, hat, racebelt, handheld bottle with gel flask

Nutrition

* Chicken, rice, pita, tzatziki, banana, graham crackers for night before
* Yogurt and banana and maybe a gel for breakfast
* Carbo-Pro and Nuun in all 3 bike water bottles
* Nuun in handheld and espresso Hammer gel with water in gel flask

Night Before

* Clothes laid out, gear packed up
* Unnecessary stuff in car already
* Water bottles ready, freeze some mix
* Yoga and read before bed
* Asleep early

Race Day

* Get up at 5am
* Try to get some food in me
* A little coffee
* Pack up and check out of hotel
* Leave Osoyoos no later than 5:45
* Get timing chip and body marking before 6:30
* Bathroom before wetsuit
* First wave starts at 7am, mine will probably be the 3rd wave again 7:20?

Pacing

* Swim - swimming intervals works best for me. Go hard for awhile, recover if/when I feel tired and/or anxious. Swim hard for the last 400m (after rounding the last buoy).

* Bike - keep HR under control - avg 155-158. Avg speed around 27.5-28 kmh. Stay aero, relaxed upper body, cadence 85-90 rpm, go hard up the hills, recover on the downhills.

* Run - who knows. Anything from 6:14-7:00 km. I'm not sure if I should try to go for a negative split or just try to maintain a steady pace for the whole run. I may have to wait until race day and see how I feel.

Mindset

Remember my mantra from my very first race, back in August 2008.

I am awesome, I can fly, I am gonna rock this tri......

I will post my race number on my facebook page on Friday or Saturday and you can click here on race day for Live Race Results.

My race will start sometime after 7am Pacific Standard Time. Probably 7:20ish? I expect to be finished between 2:00 and 2:30 pm. I will tweet my results as soon as I know them.

I want to wish the best of luck to all of my friends who are racing the Oliver Half Iron this year as well. Most of them are hoping for a Sub 6 time so I assume they will all be there to cheer me across the finish line. LOL... Good luck to Carmelle, Brent, James, Darryl, Mike, Jocelynn, Klaus and probably a few others I'm forgetting right now.

I'd also like to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout this journey - online friends, family, and most of all, Erik. :)

Oliver Sprint Triathlon Race Report 2011

2011-05-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well I survived. :)

Erik and I went down to Oliver on Saturday afternoon and I donned my wetsuit and inched my way into the water. It took me at least ten minutes to get myself completely submerged but once I had swum 10 strokes, I had made my decision - yes, I would do the race. The water was around 14C on Saturday, but only 13C at 8 am Sunday morning, when the race began.

The weather was iffy - overcast, threatening showers (which didn't materialize fortunately), and the air temperature cool as well, so I took extra precautions and kept my gear in large ziplock bags in case it rained while I was swimming or biking. I knew that I wouldn't be able to race in my usual tank top so I wore my tri shorts and sports bra top under my wetsuit and planned to put on a jersey when I went out on the bike. I also threw in my arm warmers and my new Sugoi Versa jacket, just in case.

I didn't have high expectations for my swim this year because I've only been in the pool 3-4 times since last August, so my goal time was anything under 20 minutes. I was happy to be only a minute slower than last year, with a time of 17:34, which includes a short run up to the timing mat.

This year, there were no wetsuit strippers, and because of my sore groin, it took me at least 2 minutes to get my darn suit off my left foot. Argh. Then I struggled for another 2 minutes trying to pull on a jersey and socks over my damp body. T1 was not going well. LOL...

They do not have timing mats out onto the bike course so T1 and T2 times are included in the bike time in the results. However, I had my watch and my garmin on so I believe my T1 time was a little over 5 minutes. It shouldn't have been more than 2:30 max. Ugh and LOL.

Once out on the bike, I felt good. For some reason, my overall time was a minute slower than last year but I felt strong and passed lots of people out on the course, especially on the big hill. Bike time was 37:13 according to my Garmin. Official results included T1 and T2 time.

I felt super on the run. My plan was to race at Half Iron run pace, not sprint run pace, and goal time was around the 30 minute mark (6:00/km). However, I felt so good I allowed myself to push the pace a teeny bit and came in at 28:45 for the run.

Overall, my time was a pretty pathetic 1:30:41, my slowest ever for this race, but the only real disappointment was my transition times, not my race times so I was pretty content with the race.

Oh, and I won second in my age group this year too. A medal instead of a wine glass but, ah well... :)

Looks like I'll be racing.

2011-05-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well I'm here in Oliver on Saturday afternoon. The water was about 60F. I took about 10 minutes to inch my way in, then finally took the plunge and swam a few strokes. It was nasty but tolerable. I guess I'll be racing tomorrow.

Goal time: under 1:30.

Sent from my iPhone

Decisions, Decisions

2011-05-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

So, my first race of the season is almost upon me. Once again, it’s the Wine Capital of Canada Sprint Triathlon in Oliver. I have been registered for a few months, and have paid for my hotel room for Saturday night. I often do not register for races until the last minute, “just in case” but this time, because I wanted to make sure I got a good deal on the hotel through Priceline, I registered early. After all, I’ve done this race twice before, and being 3 weeks before my half iron, it’s the first and probably only opportunity I have to do any open water swim before the race. It was a safe bet.

However, there are always some concerns. Last year, I raced hard and did my fastest run split ever (27:30) in a sprint race, winning my age group over 5 minutes ahead of the next competitor. Subsequently, my shins were sore for the weeks following and I had to cut back on running any distance at a fairly integral part of my half iron training schedule. This likely contributed to the difficult run split I had at that race.

Fast forward to this year. Thanks to El Nina, we have had a cooler than normal spring and a late thaw in the mountains. Normally, we would have had several weeks of warmer (20-25C, 65-65F) weather in late April which would warmed up shallow Tuc El Nuit Lake in time for the early race. However, as of last weekend, the water was still only 11C (52F). Although we’ve had a few days this week in the 20’s, it’s mostly been cloudy and showery and I doubt the lake will have warmed up much. It has to be 14C (57F) in order to do the swim, and the air temperature at race time cannot be more than 2C cooler than that. Given the current forecast, it is very unlikely that the water will be warmer than 14C on race day, and the weather forecast is for cloudy with rain showers.

There are two scenarios that will possibly play out this weekend.

1. The lake temperature will warm up just barely enough to do the race but I will have to swim in FREEZING 57F 14C water.

2. The lake will not warm up enough, or the air temperature will be too cool, and the race will be changed to a duathlon.

Decisions, decisions...

Neither of these choices is optimal. The worst case scenario is having to swim in ice cold water, even with a wetsuit. Yes, I know, to some of you, this temp is tepid. To some of you, it’s downright warm. But to me, it’s effing freezing. I am a cold water wuss. I get the shivers climbing into the heated indoor pool. I hate being cold.

By chance, yesterday we were cleaning and refilling our hot tub. When turned it on to warm it back up, I kept checking the temperature until I saw it had reached 58F. I put on my wetsuit and got in. Well, let me rephrase that, I got part way in. Up to my waist. Until the water started to seep in through the back zipper.

My feet were like ice and I was shivering. I put my hands to try to adjust them to the cold water temperature. I tried to force myself to dunk down lower but just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even begin to fathom actually having to put my face in and swim so I got out and waited until the temperature went up to 60F and then tried again. No go.

To be honest, it did feel a bit warmer, and if push came to shove, I could probably force myself to swim in that temperature, but I would not like it and it would be a negative OWS experience which is exactly the opposite of what I want to accomplish 3 weeks before my half iron.

Decisions, decisions...

Of course the other possibility is that the race is turned into a duathlon. This would be nice as far as swimming is concerned but would also defeat the main purpose of my doing the race – to experience a positive OWS swim practice before my big race. In addition, it would put extra stress on my legs which I do not need.

Ugh. Decisions, decisions...

My running has been hit and miss since the half marathon in March. Some days my legs and shins feel fine, other days my shins are tight and sore and I can hardly run without pain. Some days my hip/groin feels ok, and other days, it pinches and aches and feels like it’s going to “slip” while I’m running.

I had a crappy run mid week last week, took 3 days off, and then ran 16 km with no trouble at all on Saturday. On Tuesday, my shins were sore again and I ended up doing a walk/run. Today, I did a test run for a block and my shins hurt enough that I decided not to run at all until the race on Sunday. If I do the race that is.

Decisions, decisions....

I have to look at the big picture – the half iron on June 5. If I’m careful over the next 3 weeks, I can maintain my run fitness by not running for 2 days between each run and by doing all my stretching etc. My half iron will definitely be slower on the swim, and who knows about the bike – depends on the wind, but I’ll definitely be faster on the run. Overall, I expect to have a faster time this year than last, and hopefully, I will be able to walk afterward. :)

Decisions, decisions...

Ultimately, I am going to decide when I get there. Since I’ve paid for the hotel and the race, and I have a house/dog sitter arranged, Erik and I are going to go down to the race. But on Saturday, I’m going to try a test swim and if it’s still too cold and the swim isn’t cancelled, I may DNS on the race altogether. If they turn the race into a duathlon, I’m going to have to look at it as a training race – a brick workout, and try my best to do the run at half iron run pace, not sprint run pace. I really do think I can do that because the protection of my shins is of utmost importance this close to the race.

We shall see....

Decisions, decisions...

Running on the Mission Creek Greenway

2011-05-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

I was pretty anxious about my scheduled long run this week, after the crappy run I had after work on Wednesday. Then, after the doctor messed with my hip to find the source of pain at my appointment on Thursday, my hip was really sore for about 24 hours and I decided not to run last night as planned. I thought it might be better to get up early on Saturday morning and do my long run on fresher, more rested legs. It turned out to be a good decision.

I got up early, had a cup of coffee, and headed out the door by 8am. I took a gel and my hand held water bottle with me and drove down to Mission Creek to run along the Greenway. Erik stayed home to sleep a little longer because he was racing later in the day.

Today the plan was supposed to be running without orthotics for one hour and then wear them for the rest of the run but I really didn't feel like doing an out and back twice again, and the last time I did that, my feet felt weird with the heavy lumpy orthotics in them. So, for better or worse, I decided to do the whole run without them and cross my fingers.

It was mostly overcast and fairly cool, about 8C, 46F and it had showered off and on overnight so I wore my tights, my Sugoi Mid Zero jersey, and my new Versa jacket. After about 30 minutes, the sun started to peek through the clouds and it warmed up a bit so I took off the bolero style sleeves and tucked them into the jacket's back pocket. Voila, I was now wearing a vest - easy!

At this point, I was running on the more secluded part of the trail, so I decided to take out my headphones to be more aware of my surroundings. I enjoyed the sound of the birds and the rushing creek, as well as the smells of new leaves and damp earth, and I realized once again, I am lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

By about the 40 minute mark, the posterior tibial tendon at the right ankle was starting to get sore so I decided to slow down a bit and focus on my form. I wanted to make sure I wasn't overstriding or doing anything else that might give me pain later. All the way along the trail, there were tiny trails from little snails crossing. I had to be careful where I stepped so I didn't crush them. I was running slowly, not quite this slow...

Overall, I was feeling great. In fact, I felt like I could probably have run for 2-3 hours without too much trouble. I had turned around at the 40 minute mark, but decided that today I would run 1:45 instead of 1:30. When I got close to the parking lot, I took another route and ran all the way down to Lakeshore, then doubled back and did another loop to enable me to get the extra time in.

Near the end of the run, I made my way down to the water, took off my socks and shoes, and put my feet in the freezing water. And boy was it cold! The water is high right now with all the snow melt and I could barely keep my feet in the water for more than a few seconds at a time. After 5 minutes of dunking in and out, I put my socks back on and walked the last 1/2 km to the car.

Overall, I ran about 15 1/2 km in 1 hour and 45 minutes. I went straight home, ate, stretched a little, and got ready to leave for Erik's race in Penticton. All the way along the 1 hour drive, I iced my foot, ankle, and posterior tibial tendon. Tonight my lower legs are feeling pretty good although my hip is aching again.

Tomorrow, I should probably do a 2-3 hour bike ride but the weather has been awful and I'm not sure I'll be able to get outside. Trainer in May? That's unheard of!

Time to update

2011-05-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all - I haven't updated my blog for a helluva long time so I thought I'd try to get a blog post out tonight while Erik's watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Canucks aren't playing tonight so I don't really care what happens. :)

At lot has happened in the past 6 weeks or so since my race. I went through another 'minor injury' period after the race, as per usual, when my shins were tender and sore. I took about a week off running, did some elliptical, and focused on biking for a while. Meanwhile, I was going to chiro for ART and the physio for IMS for my stupid ongoing groin pain once a week and getting some results but not enough. My chiro, Melanie, again encouraged me to get an xray to 'rule stuff out' and when I went in to the doctor to get a referral, he also set up an appt with a sport med doctor as well.

Meanwhile, I got back to running and took is slow and easy for a few weeks. Naturally, I had to start all over again to build up my long run - what a pain in the ass. At the same time, Melanie also suggested that I phase out my orthotics and see if that would help my shin issues. I began to run the last part of my run without them and felt ok but had some mild pain in the metatarsal pad of my right foot. Melanie, and others, said this was well within the norm so I persevered. I managed to get my long run up to 90 minutes, 50 minutes of which was without orthotics. Then last weekend I did a big brick, running 30 minutes after an 80 km hard bike ride on the half iron course. I felt ok during the run but my mid week run on Wednesday was crappy - my legs were sore, tired and heavy. I am doing to try a long run tomorrow morning and hopefully it will go well. Crossing my fingers. I plan to do 60 minutes without orthotics and the remaining time with them in. We shall see.

The Xray and Sports Specialist Appointment

A few weeks ago, I finally had my hip xray and it came back showing mild degenerative osteoarthritis with some small osteophytes (bone spurs). This wasn't a great thing to hear but it was well within norms for someone my age and given that my mom has arthritis in her hands and back, not too surprising. Although some of the literature I read online suggested that the osteophytes could be causing the snapping/impingement pain I get in the groin, I was still anxious to hear what the sports specialist had to say.

I had my appt with him yesterday and after hearing my story, checking my xray report, and moving my hip/leg around to test for pain, he was fairly certain of a diagnosis.

Labral tear at the hip. (No, not labial... the tear is in the labrum, or lining around the hip socket.) The photo above shows the labrum, and the video below explains it pretty well.

A few of the links I found, showed a connection between osteoarthritis and labral tears. Here are a few links with more information.

Mayo Clinic

Orthopedic Specialist Website

Other info

So, now the crappy part. The only way to confirm the diagnosis is by having an MRi with dye injected. At this time, the BC Medical is extremely underfunded for MRI's and the wait list is about 8 months. If I want, I can get an MRI privately and pay $1100 out of my own pocket, I doubt I will do that.

And part two of the crap - assuming the MRI does show a labral tear, nobody in Kelowna does arthroscopic surgery on the hip as it is relatively new procedure, and the waitlist in Vancouver is 3 freaking years. Yes, I said years, not months. Oy vey. There is a possibility that I could get it done in about 18 months if Alberta will allow me to come across the border for the surgery. At any rate, that is a decision that will have to be made after I get the MRI.

We got into a lively debate about the Canadian medical system on my Facebook page today and I'd like to cut and paste a rant by Trevor who summed up the problem quite succinctly.

"Unfortunately our wonderful Canadian Healthcare is being manipulated by right wing politicians who have an agenda to privatise healthcare, in BC there was no wait for MRI's up to the last election, immediately after the election funding was withdrawn, and once again we were being told that "public healthcare wasn't working", and now our new federal govt will be conducting a "review" of public healthcare.....sad, but true, we are heading for private healthcare, where coverage can be taken away overnight leaving people with no healthcare ala the U.S.....Tommy Douglas's legacy to all Canadians will be gone......rant over :)"

Thanks for that, Trevor, I couldn't put it better myself.

So now it is Friday night, and I should have run today but my hip and groin have been really sore and tender for the past 24+ hours since the doctor manipulated the hip to test the pain points. Argh.

I asked him what would happen if I didn't the surgery and he said, I could continue running, biking, and swimming but over time, I'd have more and more pain, exacerbated by the arthritis in my hip. Eventually, I would no longer be able to do triathlon. I am continuing to research and look for more information.

On a brighter note, Erik's duathlon is tomorrow and I am looking forward to being his sherpa and watching him kick butt!

Okanagan College Half Marathon 2011 Race Report

2011-04-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Man, life has been too busy and I still haven't posted my race report or updated my blog in any way. Today I am going to cut and paste the report I posted on Daily Mile. If you follow me there, you will have already read this. :)

We arrived at the race start to 1C temps and huge snowflakes. Luckily, the snow stopped by the time the race started though and there was just a light drizzle most of the time that I barely noticed. Erik left for his 10km at 8 am and started off looking strong. I wish I could have watched him cross the finish line.

I started my race at 8:15, positioning myself near the back because I knew this race has mostly super fast runners and I didn't want to get in the way. However, I found it extremely difficult to keep a slow pace because, even when I was running a 10 min mile, the pack was pulling away from me quickly. I could see it was going to be hard to be disciplined. :)
My heart rate was too high for most of the race but I gave up trying to keep it down because, well, because it's a race, dammit and you're supposed to run fast! So much for my plan.
I'm not sure why my HR was so high actually - I did this run a few weeks ago with a much lower HR - but I'm going to put it down to a combination of recovering from illness, excitement, and possibly from the 2 shots of ventolin I took just before the race.
Below are my splits (FYI 6:15/km = 10 min mile) My goal was 6:30 for first 2-3 km, then 6:15-6:20 for the rest, with 6:00 or faster for last 3 km. Also my HR goal was zone 2 (150-159) to which I failed miserably. Most of the time I was running in Zone 3. My average HR was 167 and my max was 184. LOL. Clearly I suck at self discipline.

6:06
6:18
6:07
6:26
6:24
6:36
6:38
6:29
6:31 (start of hill)
6:29 (climbing)
6:31(water stop 30 seconds)
6:05
6:23
6:19
6:33
6:30
6:13
6:13
6:02
6:13
5:55 (100 metres)

Overall pace was 6:20/km (10:11 min mile)

And if my Math is correct, it's a negative split by a couple minutes, not counting the last 100m...

I really pushed for the last 3 km and was near dying at the very end, but nothing hurt while I was running. After the race, my legs/shins were sore so I stretched as much as I could while we waited for Erik to get all his prizes. :D I was really wishing I had brought ice with me but I iced as soon as I got home and hopefully, my massage tomorrow will get me back to normal asap. :)

I managed to track down Daily Milers John A. and Marvinlightfoot to say hello. Cool to finally meet online friends. :) Both of my daughters came down to cheer me on too so that was really, really nice.

So all in all, I'm really happy. I beat my goal time of 2:15 and my fueling strategy, including stopping to refill my bottle at the 12 km mark, worked really well. I guess time will tell if I have done any damage to my legs from my silliness. :)

PS this was an 11 minute PR from my first half marathon in Victoria last October. :)

Half Marathon Race Plan

2011-03-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well, my first race of the season is coming up this Sunday and I sure hope I'm ready. I ended up missing a whole week of training because of a bad cold and it always takes my legs a few runs to feel like they are back on track. I went for an easy 45 min run on Tuesday and I'm hoping to do an hour today. Then I'll rest my legs Friday and Saturday and hope for the best.

The Plan

So my plan is to basically repeat the run I did two weeks ago. I have been testing a different fueling/water plan for the past few months and I think I have that dialed in now too. For my half iron last June, and my half marathon last October, I used my hydration pack and carried my own fuel/water mix with Nuun and Carbo-Pro.

However, because it is cooler right now, I don't need as much water so I'm planning to carry my hand held bottle only and refill it at the half way point. I don't think this will take me more than a minute to do (and has taken me considerably less in practice).

I went to a few places to buy some more Nuun (Orange Ginger) but couldn't find any. Then I noticed Kelowna Cycle is now carrying Hammer Endurolytes Fizz. I've never tried them before but they look very similar to Nuun except they have a lower salt content. I bought a tube of the grapefruit flavour and tried them on my last run. They tasted fine and seemed to be pretty much the same as Nuun. I will have one in my bottle when I start and I will carry another tablet to drop in my bottle when I refill.

Because I don't want to bother with Carbo-Pro during the refill, I decided to test Espresso Hammer Gel in a gel flask. I know I like it and it doesn't bother my stomach but I've never been able to figure out how and where to carry the flask when I'm running and found Carbo-Pro in the hydration pack so much easier. I definitely don't like taking gels straight from the pack - they are too thick and hard to eat when I'm running and breathing hard. I much prefer it mixed with 2/1 gel/water.

On Tuesday, I found a way to strap my gel flask to my hand held bottle and it didn't bother me at all. I was even able to drink from the flask without taking it off my bottle so I think that's going to work just fine. To attach it, I used one of my reflective velcro arm straps to wrap around the bottle and the flask. It held fairly well on its own but because there's the possibility of it sliding down a little on a long run, I also attached a small piece of sticky-back velcro to the bottle and the flask so it won't accidentally slide out.

I will take one gel right before I start the race (mainly because I don't eat much breakfast on race day), and then I will take one at the 45 min and one at the 90 minute mark. This coincides nicely with the big hill climb and the end of the race.

I'm expecting it to be fairly cold at race start, probably between 3-5C (37-40F) and not likely going to warm up more than a few degrees by the end. Therefore, I plan to wear tights, a base layer, Sugoi mid-zero jersey and my vest. There are showers in the forecast so if it looks like it might rain, I'll probably wear my jacket instead of my vest. I will wear my Oliver Half Iron cap and a headband to cover my ears. I won't take gloves but I can pull my sleeves down over my hands for awhile if I need to. I plan to take my ipod and I have 2:15 worth of motivational music and Podrunner 180 bpm ready to go.

The race course is mostly flat but has one longish hill between 9-11km mark. At that point, the elevation climbs about 45 m (150'), most of it in the first km. Here's the elevation profile.

If all goes well and my legs are feeling good, here's how I plan to run it. My goal is to stay in HR Zone 2 for most of the race with the exception of the hill at km's 9/10 and the last 2-3 km. I want to start off conservatively and run the first 2 km at a 6:30/km pace (10:25 mile). Then I want to speed up a little to about a 6:15/km (10 min mile) for the rest of the race. I expect to slow down to 6:30-7:00 km for the hill, and then hopefully speed up to 5:45/km (9:15 min mile) for the last few km's. My goal time is around 2:15.

That's the plan. The reality may be something completely different. Ultimately I will listen to my body and do whatever speed feels good, and keeps my HR in Zone 2. I want to feel good after the run and not need a week off to recover.

Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Belated Merry Christmas to me!

2011-03-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to hitting the local stores to look for a late-season deal on a pair of skate skis, boots, and bindings. Turned out most places had already put away their winter gear and pulled out the summer stuff! Luckily, the skis I did find were at Fresh Air Experience, where I had $210 in gift certificates given to me by my wonderful students. Erik gave me credit towards skate skis for Christmas so that, combined with slashed prices meant I was able to get set up for a little over $200. Not bad for a package that would have cost me $1200 last fall!

I came home with a nice pair of Madshus Hypersonic skate skis. They are a mid-quality skate ski, 170 cm, medium camber for a newbie like myself. The skis I've been learning on are much stiffer and longer (181 cm) so it'll be nice to try out a pair that are more my size.

For boots, I decided to go with the Rossignol X-9. The men's boot fit better (size 39), probably because I have wide feet, and they were much more comfortable than the serviceable boots I had borrowed. Plus I think I'll have room to tuck a hot pocket into the toes if needed. I liked the colour better than the women's version anyway. :)

I went with the Rottefella NIS R4 race binding (not that means much to me ;). Erik has Pilot bindings but I didn't like the Salomon or Atomic boots so stayed with NIS. They seemed easiest to unclip.

There aren't many skate ski days left, but I'd be smart to wait until after my half marathon next weekend before I try them out. The only downside about these skis is that the ones I borrowed had super expensive race wax on them and I'm sure anything less will feel inferior now. :)

KG's ABC's...

2011-03-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Petra - check out her great blog! Feel free to cut and paste and join in!

A~Age: 50, for a couple more weeks.

B~ Bed Size: King - bought it a few months ago - I <3 my bed.

C~Chore you hate: Doing dishes. And pretty much all the rest of the household chores as well.

D~Dogs: Two. Gabe - a Chocolate Lab, and Angel - a Golden Retriever. (And Zoe, the cat)

E~Essential Start your Day Item: Coffee with cream and sugar. Only Erik's will do.

F~Favourite Color: Not just one - red, blue, green

G~Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold

H~Height: 5'3"

I~Instruments you play: piano and guitar, a little banjo and Djembe. Can hack at a few others.

J~Job Title: Elementary School Teacher - Primary - currently Grade 3 (7-8 year olds)

K~Kids: Carly - 27, Angie - 25 (and son in law, Mark), Jesse - 13. Step daughter Jenn - 29.

L~Live: Kelowna, BC, Canada. The only place to live.

M~Mom’s name: Donna.

N~Nicknames: Barb (and don't call me Barbie :)

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: 3 kids, and one bunion surgery back in '79.

P~Pet Peeve(s): Negative people, "entitlement", lack of empathy, and people with no sense of personal responsibility. Oh yeah, and TV, I hate TV.

Q~Quote from a Movie: "Wilson!!!!!!!!!!""

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: 2 brothers, and one sister. All younger.

T~Time you wake up: 7am most mornings. 6:30 if I have to.

U~Underwear: I wear it. Except under my bike shorts. :)

V~Vegetable you Dislike: Hmmmm, none really.

W~What Makes You Late: fooling around on the internet. (Stole that from Petra)

X~X-rays You’ve had Done: finger, hip, low back, dental... (weird question)

Y~Yummy Food you Make: Check out my recipe blog > http://swim-bike-run-eat.blogspot.com/

Z~Zoo Animal Favorite: Too sad to think about animals stuck in a zoo.....

Helloooooo??

2011-03-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone in here? Sounds kind of quiet...

...OK, I really fell off the blogging habit - no particular reason, except I've been hesitant to post about my running in case I jinxed it. Seriously, I'm kind of paranoid and superstitious sometimes - go figure..

Plus I know how depressed you all get when it seems like everything's going well with my running and I go and re-injure myself... ;)

Anyway, I have my report cards done and a few minutes free so here's my training update.

So I last left off on Feb 20 after a successful weekend that included back to back workouts of a 2 hour 17 km long run with a big hill climb, and my first brick of the season.

Feb 20 - 26
I had two more decent mid week runs and then the following weekend, I did another brick and another long run, this time running 18km in 2 hours. I ran up the hill faster this time, and had a faster pace over all, while still staying in zone 2.

Feb 27 - March 5
For a few days after, my shins were a little sore but not painful - in other words, they didn't feel injured. That first week of March was really hectic and I wasn't able to get my Tuesday run in, which was just as well. I think my legs needed the rest. Thursday, I barely had any time to run and I only managed a quick 30 min run after work. It was a rest week so I wasn't too worried about it. My plan for the weekend was an easy run of 60-75 minutes but my legs were tired again and I think I was improperly fueled. I ran 9km in one hour and then walked the last km back to the car.

During this these two weeks, I actually hit the pool once and swam about 1200m in just under 35 minutes. I felt good and comfortable, like I hadn't really been away from the pool since last August. I know I could go out and swim the 750m for the sprint right now without any trouble. However, I won't push my luck and I'll start swimming on a regular basis at Spring Break.

I've also been ~~cycling~~ riding the trainer. I've usually managed to fit in a 60-90 min workout during the week, as well as a 90 min brick ride on the weekends.

I've also been trying to do at least one, and preferably two, strength workouts each week. One is usually done on Monday, my rest day, and the other, if I can fit it in, is done on Friday.

And this brings us to this past week, March 7-13

I've now jumped up into Base 3 training and it is significantly more difficult than Base 1 and 2.

Up until now, I've been focussing on building aerobic base, with most of my workouts in zone 2 HR with a focus on drills and good form.

In Base 3, I'm now bringing in Muscular Endurance and Force workouts into the mix. For the most part, that means hills with HR going into Zone 3-5.

Now you may remember that in the past, I have been forced to avoid speed work and hills when running. However, with my recent running successes, I decided it was time to try adding in a little bit of work to the run.

In fact, I've already found my running fitness has improved greatly. I've been running further and faster while still staying in Zone 2. That in itself, is an accomplishment.

So this week called for 60-75 min run on Tuesday with 2X5 min hill repeats on a 4-5% grade, with walk/jog downhill recovery. I did the hill behind my house which is closer to 8-9% (and similar to the one in the race) because it was just the right length to run in 5 minutes. My HR was jacked way up there but my legs felt ok. I finished off the run in zone 1-2 and had time for 55 min in total. Not bad for my first attempt.

On Wednesday, I rode the trainer for 90 minutes. My legs were tired from the run on Tuesday but I forced myself to do it. After a good warm up, I did 2X5 min hard, in a big gear, HR Zone 4 with 2 min recovery. Then I finished with zone 2 to finish up the 90 min. Cadence was 88-90 rpm.

On Thursday, I was to run 60-75 min AE (zone 2). I ran the flats and finished up 10km in about 1:04, which is my fastest 10km ever. Now, I've never raced a 10km and I'm pretty sure I could come close to, or beat an hour, in a 10km race, but I was very happy to have this pace for a training run.

Friday should have been a spin and/or strength workout but it was a hectic evening and by the time I got home, it was late, and I was tired and hungry so I rested instead. Since I had a big weekend ahead, I think it was a good decision.

Saturday - brick again. 90 minutes bike and 15 min run. This time, my bike was strong, and my run was too. 15 minutes, 2.6 km - 5:45 km pace (9:15 min mile).

Sunday - another long run - this time 2:15-2:30 was the plan. I decided to more or less run the whole half marathon route. This is the route I'll be running in two weeks as a training race.

This would be a good time to test fuel, water, and pacing for the race. I parked the car near the 7/12 km point of the race and ran the flats out and back to the 7km mark, then did the actual route with the big hill, then finished on the flats. This simulated the course elevation and allowed me to refill my water bottle at the half way point. I carried one electrolyte tablet that I popped into my bottle when I did the refill, and I carried a gel flask with two servings of Hammer Espresso gel which I took at 45 and 90 min mars. That worked out really well because I started climbing the hill about 10 minutes after taking the gel and I felt really strong. The second shot at the 1:30 mark, gave me the power to end the run strong.

Pacing
My goal was to start cautiously around the 6:30/km mark until the hill, try to stay under 7:00/km up the hill, and then keep it steady until the last 3-5 km when I would try to pick up the pace. I think I was more than successful.

Here are my splits, more or less:

6:19, 6:17, 6:21, 6:29, 6:28, 6:29, 6:37
6:32, 6:41, 6:28, 6:34, 6:34, 6:36, 6:39,
6:40, 6:29, 6:28, 6:15, 5:45, 5:49, 5:51

As you can see, I started off faster than I wanted and was finally able to rein it in after a couple of km. I hit the hill hard at 8-9 km mark and my avg pace was great. I think I went a bit too hard though, because from km 13-15, I slowed down a bit too much. After I took the 2nd gel, I felt strong again and I was really able to kick ass for the last 3 km.

I was in HR zone 2 for the entire run except that last 3 km when I bumped it up to Zone 3.

Overall, I did about 2:15 for 21.1 km. That is almost a 10 minute PR from my October half marathon in Victoria and I think it means I can set a realistic goal of 2:15 for the Okanagan College Half Marathon on March 27. This only difference then will be that I have to use race time to refill my water bottle and I could lose a minute doing that. (For my training run, my Garmin shut off when I was stopped at the car.)

My goal for the half is to do 6:30's for the first 2-3 km, then speed up to 6:20-6:25. I will try to stay at 6:30 up the hill, not faster, so I don't lose too much on the downhill and recovery kms after. Then I will push hard (5:45's) for the last 3 kms like I did in my training run.

This coming weekend, I am supposed to do another 2:00-2:30 run but I will play that by ear. If my legs are still really tired, I may cut it back 1:30-2:00 and I will definitely run easy - no hard push at the end.

I am really finding this is one big experiment and I'm having lots of fun. My legs are pretty trashed this morning (Monday) and my ankle (PTT) was sore last night and today. I don't think it's a big issue - it seems to hurt after all my long runs but it only lasts a day or two. We shall see. I have an ART appt with the chiro on Thursday so I plan to ask her about that. In the meantime I have it taped up with KT Tape.

Bye for now... :)

Testing the waters

2011-02-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend was a chance to test my legs. I ended up losing a week of training after having my wisdom teeth pulled, not so much because of any pain, but because the antibiotics made me so nauseous. By Tuesday, I was feeling back to feeling myself, but the day was too busy to run because Erik was leaving the next day, so I grudgingly moved my run to Wednesday. Running after having a week off made my legs feel heavy and my shins a little sore, so I kept the run short and easy.

Because I ran Wednesday, I wasn't able to do my usual Thursday run so I had to make some decisions. A 2 hour long run was planned for the weekend, but so was my first brick of the season. If I ran on Friday, I couldn't do both the long run and the brick on the weekend.

In the end, it was an easy decision because a friend who's also a triathlete, and whose husband was also out of town, agreed to come over for a girls' night out a la triathlon. She brought her bike and we set up the trainers in the living room then we watched a movie while we rode for 90 minutes. After that, a nice meal and wine, and another movie. It was a fun evening when I normally would have been alone.

Saturday, I decided to do my long run. I wasn't sure how long I'd run because my legs had been quite sore on Wednesday and I wasn't sure what to expect. It was cold (-4C 24F) but sunny, and there was a strong north wind that made the air feel even colder, but I decided to venture downtown to run the north end of the half marathon route, which included a 2km climb up the mountain.

I decided to park in the middle of the route so I could stop by the car a couple of times and refill my handheld water bottle, plus I could bail if I needed to. But I didn't need to bail - I felt pretty great in fact! I was quite fast when the wind was at my back, around 6:30/km, but slower when it was blowing against me. I ran along the boardwalk to the bridge and back as my warm up, which was very exposed and quite windy, then I refilled my bottle and attacked the next section, which included the hill.

I was curious to see how it was going to feel and whether I'd be able to run up hill all the way or perhaps be forced to walk. I was happy to find that I could indeed run the entire hill and I kept a faster pace than I had expected (7:20/km). Once at the top, it leveled off for awhile and then there was a steep downhill to the valley bottom again.

I passed the car again and refilled my bottle for a second time, then retraced my original steps on the waterfront boardwalk. By this time, my legs had turned to cement and I had a tough time keeping a decent pace. I was in the 7:15/km area and felt like I was trudging along. As usual, this run was 15 min longer than my last long run so I really felt that last 15 minutes.

Amazingly, my Garmin rolled exactly 17 km just as I hit the 2 hour mark back at the car and although I had hoped to hit 18km today, I was content with the run given the cold and the wind.

I got into the car and cranked up the heat because my fingers always start to go white and tingly (Reynaud's) as soon as I stop running and start to cool down. I felt fine as I drove home but decided to make a quick stop at the store to pick up a few things and immediately started to shiver uncontrollably as soon as I entered the cold grocery store. I guess the only way to avoid this is to be totally prepared and drive straight home after a long run.

Anyway, I am hoping to run that same route a couple more times before the race on March 27. I think it'll be good for my legs.

I am so happy to be able to run up hills and not feel sore the next day. This morning I felt a bit stiff but not injured. And so today, was another test. I had a brick planned - 90 min trainer and a 15 min run - would I be able to run two days in a row, especially after a 2 hour run? Only time would tell.

I laid out a complete change of clothes to run in, all my warm gear of course because it was -4C outside, then I jumped on the trainer and rode. My goal was zone 2 with a few drills thrown in but I decided to watch TV this time instead of listen to my ipod and my effort was really affected. I had trouble keeping my cadence steady and my HR up. I really need the podrunner 190 bpm music playing to keep me focussed so I don't think I'll watch TV again when I'm spinning. After 90 minutes, I quickly towelled down and changed into running gear. It was pretty gross to pile on warm clothes when I was so hot and sweaty but it felt quite refreshing to step outside in the cold.

I only had to run 15 minutes and I was surprised to see I had a decent pace of about 6:15-6:30/km with a zone 2 heart rate. My shins and lower legs felt pretty good with very little of the usual leaden legs that I usually have the first few bricks of the season.

Afterwards, I stretched and iced, and then had a hot epsom salts bath and stretched again before bed. I guess I won't really know if I passed the test or not until tomorrow, or maybe not even until Tuesday when I run again. Right now, my legs are telling me I need a rest day, and that's what's planned for tomorrow anyway, so all is well.

This week will be tough - run 45-60 min on Tuesday and Thursday, trainer on Wed and Friday, long run 2:00-2:15 on Saturday, another brick on Sunday.

I hope I pass.

Afraid to Jinx it but....

2011-02-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'd like to continue with my last positive post and say, I'm still running and I'm still feeling good!

OK, quick, everyone go knock on something made of wood!

It's been a little over two weeks and things are going really well. I've managed to build up my long run to 1:45, about 15 km at a slow pace, and I have started to pick up the pace a little on my mid week runs to see how things go. So far so good.

On Sunday, January 30, I did my planned long run for 90 minutes. I kept the pace slow and easy and focussed on good form, trying hard not to over stride and to keep my body loose and relaxed. I've been adding 15 min to my long run each week and not surprisingly, I always feel great until that last 15 minutes. Funny how that works eh?

That run finished up my second week of Base 1 with a total of 7 1/2 hours of training -

2 X 45 min run
1 X 90 min run
2 X 45 min bike
1 X 90 min bike
3 X 30 min strength
No swimming.

I am doing two weeks of training, followed by a rest week and since the next week included a lot of errands, meetings, and parent teacher interviews, it was a good thing it was a rest week.

During the week Jan 31 - Feb 6

I did 2 X 30 min runs at a little faster pace. I usually run around 7 min / km (11:30 mile) but for these two runs, I did around 6:30 / km (10:15 mile) just to see how it would feel. I had no pain afterward so next week I'm going to bump it up to 6:15 / km. I know I can run 5:30 but I want to get there slowly and carefully.

I didn't get on my bike at all - there was only one day where I could have but I bailed, boo me.

On the weekend, Erik and I went away to Salmon Arm and we went skate skiing for a few hours on Saturday. On Sunday, we came back early because of an impending snow storm and I did a step back long run in a blizzard, running 10 km in 1:15.

During the week, I did continue with my stretching, yoga, and some core but didn't do my hand weights. I also went to one last IMS appt and saw my chiropractor for more ART. I am feeling almost normal now - yay! The skate skiing didn't even bother my groin at all by the way.

This week past, (Feb 7-13) has been a bit messed up. I took my usual rest day on Monday, and then had to make soem decisions about training for the week. Normally I run on Tuesday and Thursday with a long run on the weekend. However, this week, I had my wisdom teeth out and most people thought I wouldn't likely feel like / be able to do my 1:45 long run on the weekend. So I decided to push my Tuesday run ahead a day and make it my long run.

Circumstances were such that I couldn't even start my run until after 7pm so I drove down to the flats and did my run there. Once again, I felt good for 1:30 and only started to plod for the last 15 minutes. 15 km in the bag. That's my longest run in awhile. The interesting thing is that nothing was hurting the next day either - not my foot, my PTT, my shins, nothing. It's such a nice feeling.

I really feel like I'm going to be ready for the half marathon in another month. I mean, I know I could go run the distance right now, but my goal for this race is to meet or beat my Victoria time (2:24) and not feel totally trashed afterward. In fact, I won't even care if I'm a little slower - I think I should easily be able to run it in 2:30 and feel 100% the next day. I know I could run 2:15 or faster right now but I'd be hurting and that's not part of the plan with my half iron coming up in June.

So anyway, this week was supposed to be Base 2 and the only thing that is really getting done is the running. Depending on how I feel, I may do the planned brick (2:00 bike+ :15 min run) on the weekend, but more likely, I'll push that off to mid week, or even next weekend. I have one brick planned every weekend for the next 4 weeks so it may just have to wait.

The biggest risk with my mouth right now, is the possibility of having the clot come out, causing dry socket (very painful) or of the tooth space getting infected. My dentist says it's always a good possibility of happening. We'll see.

Next week, I should be back to normal and hopefully put in a full week of training. I get to bump up the intensity a little as well which should be fun.

By George, I think it's working!

2011-01-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

Well I've had five ART treatments with my new favourite chiropractor, Melanie Welder, at Active Living Chiropractic, as well as two IMS treatments with my long time favourite physiotherapist, Roy Gillespie, at Pinnacle Sports Physiotherapy and I've actually seen some serious improvement. I can now pull my left knee up to my chest without pain, I can put on my sox and tie my shoes, and do yoga! I've been faithfully doing my stretches and I'm now back to doing my core and strength workouts. I can run without pain (shin, foot, or hip) and I can ride my bike without groin pain. The only thing I haven't added back to the mix is skate skiing but that's going to change when I go up to Salmon Arm on the first weekend of February.

Some interesting things I've learned.

* My back (spondylolistheses) is definitely a central part of this whole thing. I REALLY need to keep my core strong and my weight in check.

* My foot pain that started on my long run two weeks ago, magically disappeared after my last long run on Sunday. Don't know why, don't care, just glad it's gone. OK, actually I do care why - I noticed that it would go away temporarily every time I had a physio or chiro appt so when it was suddenly better last Sunday night, I decided that my 'cure" was directly related to the treatments I've been getting for my hip/quad/groin. Yay!

* I can know, also magically, touch my toes. I've never been able to touch my toes, as long as I can remember. But now I can. Well, I can after a run or bike workout. In the morning, it's back to 4"-6" away from my toes. Melanie says it's my tight glutes that are the problem - my hamstrings are pretty flexible. My back is could also be to blame when it's tight. So, I will continue to stretch my legs/glutes and strengthen my back.

* I haven't had any shin pain for a long time. Or ITB pain for that matter. Maybe they go into hiding when I'm busy with something else. :) I've been building up my long run slowly, and haven't added speed into the mix at all. I'm just trying to build up my endurance for now. This week I have two 45 min runs mid week and a 1:30 long run planned for the weekend. If I feel ok next week, then I'm over the hurdle. Tentative yay!

* My heart rate is being unpredictable. I've had a hard time keeping it below 160 bpm on my last two long runs (going well into zone 3). I'm well rested and fueled - there's no reason to have a high HR. And then I went for a faster run after work on Tuesday, and my HR stayed in zone 2 the entire time. What gives? I'm curious to see what my Avg HR is on my long run this weekend.

* Diet - I lost 2 lbs but plateaued this week. Been eating 50-75% vegetarian and enjoying it. Still dipping into junk food once in awhile and that is once too often if I want to lose a couple more pounds.

Training

Finishing up Base 1 - Week 1

1/21 - Had my 60 min massage. Did not ride trainer as planned.
1/22 - 90 min on the trainer. W00t!
1/23 - 75 min long run - yahoo!!

Base 1 - Week 2

1/24 - rest day - IMS followed by 20 min stretching and yoga, back sore.
1/25 - 45 min planned run. Felt pretty awesome.
1/26 - ART appt, followed by 45 min on the trainer, followed by upper body strength and stretching, a little yoga before bed. Another woot!

Planned for the rest of the week

1/27 - 45 min run, core and yoga
1/28 - 45 min trainer, upper body and yoga
1/29 - 1:30 long run (swim?), core and yoga
1/30 - 90 min trainer (swim?), upper body and yoga

Base Training

2011-01-20T21:12:00.001-08:00

Well, so far so good. I think I have finally gotten into a bit of a training routine and feel like I'm getting my mojo back again. Although the first two weeks of January were technically "prep" weeks, there wasn't a whole lot of training going on, other than running that is, and even my running wasn't without issues, as usual. But this week, as I begin Base 1, I scheduled a workout every single day and so far, I've managed to "get 'er done". Part of my method was to keep it simple and not over do it the first week.

So here's what I actually accomplished over the first 3 weeks of January.

Week One - Jan 3-9 - Prep

1/3 - Yin Yoga Class - 60 min
1/4 - Chiro appt - 2nd ART/Graston treatment, 20 min stretching
1/5 - 30 min run, 20 min stretching
1/6 - 30 min stretching
1/7 - 45 min run, 3rd ART appt, 60 min stretching
1/8 - skate ski - 2 hours, 20 min stretching
1/9 - 1 long run 60 min, on solid ice wearing trail shoes and gripons. Bottom of left foot started to hurt halfway thru the run

Ate really healthy all week, no meat until steak on Friday night. A bit too much crap on the weekend though.

Week Two - Jan 10 - 16 - Prep

1/10 - foot sore, 30 minutes of stretching
1/11 - 4th ART appointment, no real progress yet
1/12 - foot too sore to run, stretching only
1/13 - foot still sore, stretching only
1/14 - easy cautious run, 30 minutes. felt ok, but not perfect.
1/15 - 50 LT test on trainer, 20 minutes of strength work. LTHR 174.
1/16 - long run, on the road, foot noticeable but ok. Sore later tho.

Ate really healthy for another week and was more cautious on the weekend as well this time. Lost one pound.

Week Three - Jan 17 - 23 - Base 1

1/17 - physio appt today, IMS on low back, adductors and glutes. Supposed to complement the ART treaments. We shall see. More next Monday.
1/18 - elliptical 45 minfoot sore so went to gym
1/19 - 5th ART appt, seeing improvement. 30 min strength training and stretching at home.
1/20 - 50 min slow run, foot ok but not perfect. Then 60 minutes of yoga, strength, and stretching.

Scheduled for the rest of this week

1/21 - 60 minutes massage, hopefully 45 min trainer ride later (maybe), yoga
1/22 - long run 60-75 min I hope. Maybe hit pool for first time today or Sunday - undecided.
1/23 - trainer 60-90 min zone 2 and drills

Swimming

So I'm torn about when I want to head back to the pool. I'm probably going to go swim sometime in the next week or so and see where I'm at and then I'll decide how much swimming I need to do.

This may not be the best training method but I've made one decision. I'm going to swim less this season. Last year, I followed a very careful plan, with lots of specific workouts to improve my swimming but I showed very little gain for the huge time commitment. I've determined that, at least for me, investing a lot of time in swimming is not worth the reward. I'd much prefer to put that time in on the bike and see a 5-15 minute improvement in my bike time instead of a 30-60 second improvement in my swim time. I think that's what makes sense to me.

Maybe some of you might think it's only because I'd do anything to avoid dragging my ass down to the H20 Centre and jumping into a freaking cold pool but my justification does make sense, doesn't it?? ;)

So for now, I'm going to follow the Half Iron plan in my new book (see my last post) but only do 2 swims per week, and I may not even start up the swimming for a few more weeks, we'll see.

Goals this week

- lose another pound (I'm down 2 lbs since Jan 1st)
- Run without foot pain
- Get this stupid groin thing under control between the chiro and the physiotherapist.
- Keep eating healthy meals - I've been mostly going meatless all week and only eating meat on weekends. And even that amount has been cut in half. During the week, I eat lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains and beans, cottage cheese, some eggs, and yogurt. As you can see, dairy is still in there - please don't email me and tell me to cut out dairy cuz I won't do it. :)
- get back on the trainer on a regular basis.

"Your Best Triathlon" by Joe Friel

2011-01-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

I just bought Joe Friel's latest book, "Your Best Triathlon: Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes", and I LOVE it!

As the subtitle suggests, it is intended for experienced triathletes who are looking to improve past performances and PR that next "A" race. The book is an excellent companion to The Triathlete's Training Bible, which he refers to often, but in my opinion, it could also be used alone.

Your Best Triathlon is well organized and easy to read. I especially like the highlighting of important points and the coloured icons for the various kinds of workouts.

It contains new, updated information, in the ever-changing science of endurance training, but is still built on the basic tenets of periodization. It is definitely a book for an experienced athlete however, and I think that unless you are a experienced endurance athlete of some kind, a first timer would find most of the workouts and training schedules too demanding.

The book is written in sections, (Prep, Base 1, 2, & 3, Build 1 & 2, Peak), each with suggested training plans for all four race distances (Sprint, Olympic, Half Iron, and Full Iron). Each period has a Training Week plan (which you would repeat several times), as well as a Rest and Test Week plan. Joe outlines detailed workouts for each training cycle, some of which I have not seen in his previous books, and he also offers lots of hints and suggestions for athletes who are either older or younger than the norm.

I think this is another reason why the book is more suited to experienced triathletes - you need to have a good understanding of your own body and what it can do, in order to adjust the training schedules to suit your own unique needs. The training times suggested for each plan are pretty heavy from my point of view - even the sprint program relies on 8-10 hours of training per week at the minimum - but that's to be expected if you want to race "Your Best Triathlon".

I think this is one of the best books I've seen so far, for the experienced, self-coached triathlete. And no, Joe isn't paying me to sell his books for him - I wish! Hey Joe - how about a little free coaching for all the good press I give you! ;)

Anyway - I have included Your Best Triathlon in my "recommended books list" at the Amazon.ca or Amazon.com links on the side --->, but I'm sure you can also buy them at your local book store as well.

Enjoy!

No Pain, No Gain?

2011-01-05T21:31:00.001-08:00

ART anyone? Active Release Technique is the latest physiotherapy treatment I am trying. I've heard good things about it from just about everyone I've spoken to, and it was recommended to me by my RMT as well. So finally, I bit the bullet and made an appointment. I wasn't really looking forward to it because I'd also heard it is REALLY painful, but I thought it was worth a try.

If you read my post a few weeks ago about my first attempts at skate skiing, you'll know that my chronic groin pain from old scar tissue, has been flaring up to the point of limiting movement in certain activities. My RMT thought that not only was my quad involved, but I also had tight psoas and adductors. She suggested I try ART to release the psoas and see if that would help the problem. She thought that a chiropractor trained in ART should be able to get rid of the scar tissue and hopefully, the pain.

At my first appointment with the chriopractor, she listened to my story and did a few movements tests to see where the problems arose and she told me that the scar tissue is at the spot where the Pectineous attaches to the hip bone.

But she also says that Psoas and Adductors are very tight and so that is what she worked on. I snagged these photos from an awesome website called Get Body Smart, where you can look at, and learn about, all of the various muscles in your body.

She had me lay on my side with my lower leg straight and my sore upper leg bent half way at the knee, and then she dug into my side, close to the hip bone in order to find and isolate the psoas muscle. She "pinned" the muscle down, had me bring my knee closer to my chest to make sure she had it, and then I had to slowly straighten my leg and bring it back behind me while she held the muscle in place. This was nothing short of excrutiating.

After, she pinned the muscle again, slightly further down and we went through the procedure again. She did this about 5-6 times, inching her way down the muscle. It hurt. A lot. I had to hang onto the table and swear and by the time she was finished, I was sweating like crazy. The good news is that the pain stopped when she let go.

Then she did a similar thing with the adductor, holding the muscle in place while she had me move my leg through a series of motions. It hurt too, but not nearly as much as the psoas.

Since there was still a lot of scar tissue and the muscle was quite "ripply", she took out her medieval torture.... er... I mean "Graston" tools, and proceeded to rub them up and down my stretched adductor and pectineus muscles. This was also a little uncomfortable, in a burning muscle kind of way. And then, 15 minutes after we started, she was done.

She said I'd likely be bruised for a few days (I was only slightly), and that I could do all of my normal activities, so long as nothing hurt and I found I was able to run, ride, and ski as normal. I still couldn't do the regular yoga though, at least not the stuff that stretches that hip.

Between sessions, I was to do 3 stretches, 3 times a day, and hold each one for a full minute. (Psoas, adductor, and quad stretches).

I came back for more, about 4 days later, expecting it to be a little less painful because I was better now, but each time she dug a little deeper. Ugh. This time, she had to bring in her assistant to move my leg because I was unable to do it myself (it hurt too much).

I have a 4th appointment tomorrow and one more booked for Thursday. Hopefully by then I'll be all fixed up. I'd like to say I'm already feeling better but to be honest, my range of motion in that hip still hasn't improved. I'll know I'm better when I bring my foot up to tie my shoes without pain.

That's all for now folks. :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

Well it's another new year and I'm beginning my 4th year blogging. It's really amazing to see the transformation I've made since November 2007 when I first started this blog. Every year I set goals and then do my best to achieve them. You can too!

Here are some of the races I am considering for 2011. I have not registered for any of them yet - I usually don't bother until closer to race date, unless they fill up quickly. You never know what's going to happen over the course of the year.

March 27 - Campus to Campus Half Marathon in Kelowna (fun, training run/race)

May 5 - Oliver Sprint Triathlon (warm up to the half)

June 5 - Oliver Half Iron

June 12 - Women's 5k race in Kelowna

June 25 - Scorched Sole 25km trail race in Kelowna

July 10 - Midsummer 8k road race in Kelowna

July 31 - San Francisco First Half Marathon

August 21 - Apple Sprint Triathlon (Qualifier for World Championships in Auckland 2012)

October 9 - Okanagan Full Marathon

*****************************************

The Plan

I am really LOVING planning out my training schedule again. I do enjoy being coached and appreciate all that it does for me, but I so miss the strategizing and planning and scheduling of my own training. I've decided that this season, I'm going to take back the reins and see if I've learned anything from both Coach Brian and Coach Jeff Kline who have helped me in the past.

I roughed out a plan using my Triathlete's Training Bible periodization tables. For now, it looks something like this (see below) although much will depend on how things go week to week and adaptations will surely be made. The minutes are referring to possible long run times each week up until my half marathon in March. In brackets refer the the types of Joe Friel's workouts I will be doing during each segment - taken from Appendix of Triathlete's Training Bible. I know I need to do rest weeks more frequently than the average younger person, so I tend to cut back a little every 2-3 weeks, depending on how I feel.

Prep (Endurance, Speed Skills)

Jan 2 50 min (done)

Jan 3-9 60 min

Jan 10-16 60+ min

Base 1 (Longer Endurance, more Speed Skills)

Jan 17-23 75 min

Jan 24-30 90 min

Feb 31-6 (R&R) 60 min

Base 2 (Endurance, Force, Speed, Muscular Endurance)

Feb 7-13 90 min

Feb 14-20 105 min

Feb 21-27 (R&R) 75 min

Base 3 (Endurance, Force, Speed, Muscular Endurance)

Mar 28-6 105 min

Mar 7-13 120 min

Mar 14-20 60 min

Mar 21-27 Half Marathon

Build 1 (Endurance, Muscular Endurance. Force for Run/Bike, Anaerobic Endurance for Swim)

Mar 28-3

Apr 4-12

Apr 11-17

Apr 18-24 (R&R)

Build 2 (Endurance, Muscular Endurance. Force for Run/Bike, Anaerobic Endurance for Swim)

Apr 25-1

May 2-8 (Oliver Sprint Triathlon)

May 9-15

May 16-21 (R&R)

Peak/Taper

May 22-29

May 30-4

Race - June 5

***************************

Diet - AKA healthy eating plan and losing weight

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, January 4:

The plan - 1600 calories per day 60% carbs 15-25% each of fat and protein

More - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, water

Less - meat, saturated fat, processed foods, sugar, white flour/starches

In moderation - yogurt, low fat cheese, whole grain bread, one small piece of chocolate per day, 1-2 glasses of wine on the weekend.

I plan to cook more vegetarian meals and replace meat with beans/rice/grains whenever possible. As I find new recipes, I will post them on my recipe blog (link on the right).

I will also take my supplements - calcium/magnesium, Omega 3, Vitamin C and possibly a few others.

OK, I have more to say but will post again tomorrow.

Training Totals

2010-12-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

Beginner Triathlete gives a nice summary of your training along the left hand side of the screen. The downside is that it only shows this year and the previous year so the info chart from the years before is no longer available. You can go in and do a search to get subtotals but I like the chart they have alongside better.

2010 Totals
Bike:	100h 50m 17s	2366.49 KM
Run:	88h 00m 43s	690.33 KM
Swim:	45h 37m 53s	96600 M
Strength:	6h 05m
Core Training:	1h 30m
Elliptical Training:	8h 50m
Hiking:	2h 15m
Massage:	2h 00m
Rowing:	1h 10m
Skate Skiing:	7h 45m
Stretching:	20m
Volleyball:	1h 30m
Walking:	55m
Yoga:	7h 50m

2009 Totals
Bike:	102h 06m 13s	2152.08 KM
Run:	65h 42m 47s	502.33 KM
Swim:	20h 10m	41250 M
Strength:	9h 52m
Core Training:	30m
Dancing:	2h 20m
Elliptical Training:	4h 03m
Golf:	2h 00m
Hiking:	2h 25m 29s
Misc.:	20m
Plyometrics:	15m
Rowing:	1h 42m
Stationary Biking :	45m
Stretching:	1h 15m
Walking:	30m
Yoga:	5h 50m

2008 Totals
Bike:	117h 51m 59s	2743.65 KM
Run:	62h 18m 13s	508.07 KM
Swim:	36h 38m 01s	64450.00 M
Strength:	26h 35m
Sports:	24h 05m

2007 Totals
Bike:	155h 13m 29s	3472.71 KM
Run:	18h 04m 02s	156.36 KM
Swim:	none
Strength:	3h 00m
Sports:	3h 35m

Tagged!

2010-12-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Stuart of the Quadrathon Blog and Podcast. If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged and leave a comment below, with a link to your blog post.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

1. What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2010?

I know a lot of people might think that I should be proudest of finishing my first half iron in June, but although that was an accomplishment, I'm never really content or proud of simply "finishing" a race. I don't like going into a race simply to survive it - I much prefer to do my best training and come close to a reasonable goal time. I'm really not so concerned about where I place in my age group as I am about meeting goal times that are possible for me.

So that being said, I guess my proudest moment this year is the Oliver Sprint Tri last May. It was the first time I had a good swim, bike, AND run in the same race. It was my fastest triathlon run and as a bonus, it was the first time I actually 'podiumed' in a race.

A very close second is my first half marathon in October - although I again had some ITB issues, I was able to overcome the pain and finish in a reasonable-for-me time.

I should probably mention I'm also pretty proud of swimming across the lake this summer. It was more of a mental accomplishment than a physical one. :)

2. What are your running goals for 2011?

My first goal is to do a decent half iron in Oliver in June 2011. That means I'd be happy to have the same swim and bike time as last year but knock at least 30 minutes off my run - in other words, actually run the whole thing. :)

My second goal is to run a full marathon in October 2011. This one is kind of a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) because I don't know if I can actually accomplish that goal this year but I'll give it a good shot. OK, I know, yes, I can run a marathon next fall - but as I mentioned above, I'm not interested in simply surviving a race - I'm not going out with the intention of running a 5:30-6:00+ marathon. I think a reasonable goal would be 4:30-5:00 and if I can't even come close to that, then I'd prefer to keep plugging away at my running and wait another year.

3. What is your favorite race?

My favourite race is actually the Oliver Sprint Tri - it's fun, it's not too big, and it's early enough in the season that I haven't had summer vacation get into the way of my training. Plus you win a wine glass - I need a second place glass next year to complete my set. ;)

4. What is your most embarrassing running moment?

I've been thinking about this one a lot - trying hard to think of a time when I've been embarrassed during a run. For most people it's a bathroom break issue but I guess I've been lucky in that regard. I supposed my most embarrassing moment running was when I tripped and rolled through a deep mud puddle when was running along the highway down in Osoyoos last summer. It was embarrassing mainly because the trucker driving by, must have seen me go down. It happened so fast, I just suddenly found myself sitting hip deep in the middle of a puddle. I was a little scraped but the worst of it was the drowning of my ipod.

My most embarrassing cycling moment was running into the back of a parked truck after doing hill repeats on Steel one afternoon. Lesson learned - don't hang your head down even for a moment when you are tired. Luckily I wasn't going very fast.... ;)

Lessons Learned

2010-12-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't run or ride my bike for 2 1/2 hours on my first day out - why would I think it was ok to skate ski for 2 1/2 hours on my first day? LOL...

Actually, my legs felt pretty good over the next couple of days after my first ski, but my inner thighs/groin? Not so much. I've got old scar tissue at the attachment of my psoas or sartorious that has been there for about 4 years. The only time I can feel pain is when I pull my left knee towards my chest but it doesn't bother me when I swim, bike, or run. However, in the act of skate skiing, there is a lot of lateral movement, and this exacerbated my old injury. I didn't feel it at the time, but the next day, when I bent down to pick something up off the floor, the tendon "slipped" and hurt like crazy for about 2 minutes. I was literally lying on the floor, with tears in my eyes waiting for the pain to stop. Once the spasm stopped, I was able to get up and cautiously move around. Once I knew it could happen, I moved very carefully for the next few days. It seemed the most likely way to make it slip was to turn my knee outward.

Four days later, on Wednesday night, I had a repeat- only this time with the other leg. I had just got into the car and I shifted my hips to adjust my position so I could drive home. Something slipped in my right hip and I had severe pain on both the inner and outer thigh. I couldn't lift my knee without pain, and had to use my left foot to brake the car. Luckily I was only 10 minutes from home and once I got home, it began to relax and in about an hour or so, it was back to normal.

I was supposed to have my first actual ski lesson the very next day and I highly suspected I wouldn't be able to participate. I was afraid that the movement of my leg in the skating motion would trigger the same severe groin pain. However, I went to the lesson anyway and told the instructor what was up and that I was going to be careful and see how things went. I found I was able to do most of the ski lesson with no trouble and I was just extra careful not to fall because I think the main thing that hurt me in the first place was forcing myself to get up without help after falling (before I had been taught how to do so properly).

Two days later, we went up to Telemark again and practiced everything we had learned at our lesson. I really felt like I was getting the hang of it - I even skated the short easy trails with Jesse and Erik. I was still afraid of going too fast downhill, mainly because I was afraid of falling and tearing one of those sore groin muscles, so I went over to a gentle hill, and did hill repeats. I went 1/4 way and skied down. Then I went 1/2 way and skied back down. And so on all the way up the hill until I had skied down it 3 times without feeling too nervous.

Our next lesson is this coming Thursday night so I think I will stretch and rest until then instead of going out again. I have a cold right now anyway so it might be best to get healthy and feel good on Thursday.

I posted a video of me "skiing" on my Posterous blog. Click here to take a look.

OK back to cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping, sniffling, coughing, and whining...

PS Here's a great shot Erik took of the lunar eclipse. He actually held the camera up to the binoculars - amazing!

A New Level of Incompetence?

2010-12-11T19:15:00.001-08:00

If you thought I was bad at mountain biking, you should have seen me skate skiing today. I tried so hard and I was SO uncoordinated. Erik was off hitting the trails within a short time and managed to skate twice the distance I did during our 2 1/2 hours up at Telemark, while I plugged away, "skating" back and forth on the flat "Stadium" where the kids take their lessons. I watched all those videos that made it look so easy before I left and had tips and ideas written down on a paper that I carried with me, but holy moly, was it ever hard! Balance, strength, body awareness, control - all so important. I can really see how skate skiing is an excellent cross training sport for triathletes and I hope to get out and do it regularly this winter.

For those of you who don't know what skate skiing is, I've inserted a couple of YouTube videos below, but in short, you don't follow a straight track, you move your legs as if you are ice skating. The skis are narrower and a little shorter, and they are waxed differently so that they are slick all the way down and have no grip on them so you can glide and push off from side to side. The poles are longer than XC ski poles.

There are several styles of skate skiing, all involve different ways to use your poles.
This was the style I was trying to do.

Erik bought himself a nice pair of skate skis last spring but I decided to try it a few times first before I spend any money. Luckily, my friend Carmelle just got a new pair of skis and boots so she lent me her old ones to use for awhile. The boots fit me well but the skis are a little bit long for me because she is taller, and I had to use my XC ski poles which are about 10 cm (4") too short - but overall, the fit was good enough to be able to get out there and have a good day trying it out.

Today, the conditions were quite good, with groomed packed snow, not too soft, not icey. Air temperature was perfect, only -3C (26F) so my winter running clothes worked well. I did put a pair of lined nylon track pants on over top of my Sugoi Sub Zero running tights, and I wore long sleeved base layer, Mid Zero jersey, and my windbreaker up top. The only clothing issue was my gloves. I don't have a good pair of mitts for skiing so I had to wear gloves and my fingers got quite cold a few times.

For the first 45-60 minutes we just went back and for trying to get our legs and arms moving in some coordinated kind of way. Soon, Erik was able to skate ski across the stadium with relative competence. I decided to toss my poles and try freestyle skate skiing. It was a little harder to keep my balance without my poles but I was also unable to rely on them so I started to get the feeling much more quickly. Soon I was able to skate, albeit slowly, across the stadium. I did that a few times then I got my poles and tried again. Now that I had a better feel for it, I was able to do much better. Erik said he was going to try an easy trail again so I decided to join him this time. I did ok on the flats, but I really struggled on the few gentle inclines and declines. Back to stadium for me.

Again I tossed the poles and practiced without them and again I found it much easier when I picked up the poles again. This was definitely a good strategy. We were up there for about 2 1/2 hours plus a short snack and bathroom break and by the very, very end, I was kind of getting the feel and could skate ski across the stadium ad back a few times without too much trouble.

This is a video of free skating, without poles,
which I found really helpful in getting the feel for skating.

Before I started, I was mostly worried about how to stop, but a much bigger issue turned out to be how to get up once you've fallen. I didn't seem to be able to unclip my boots from my skis when I was on the ground so I had to find a way to use my poles to push me up. It was NOT easy and I struggled quite a bit the 3-4 times I fell. I was worried about pulling a groin or twisting my knee when I fell because you feel like you are quite locked in with those boots. I guess I need to learn more about that before I go out next time.

Anyway, in 2 1/2 hours, I skied just under 6 km. I was wearing my Garmin but I had it set to stay on continuously, even when I was stopped.

So there you have it - I need shorter skis, longer poles, better mitts, and more coordination.

Can't wait until next time!

Here's a little snowman I painted today. I think he's probably a better skier too. ;)

December 9

2010-12-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

I went to a funeral this afternoon - for a man whose life was stolen by alzheimer's. We have another friend who is now in the early stages - such an awful disease.

Training

I've been out running - short and easy - only 30 minutes on Tuesday because I had to get back in time to take the boy to guitar lessons. I figured a 30 minute run was better than nothing. Shins are still dicey but ok.

Today I did the "Leg and Core" workout at home. I've been able to adapt most of the exercises and do them using the exercise ball and the therapy bands. I haven't been as consistent as I'd like, but I think I'm getting back on track now. Maybe blogging will help.

Meat

Today is the third day in a row I've not eaten meat. I wasn't planning to go vegetarian, in fact I'm still not, but it is interesting. It's not that hard to go meatless for breakfast and lunch - I do that most days - but it is a bigger challenge to not eat meat at dinner time. It's not so much that I love meat - I could probably live without it most of the time - but it's such a pain in the ass making two different meals - one for the boys and one for me. Some things are simple to make meatless, but others are not.

Last night we had burgers and I realized that I usually only eat half the meat in mine anyway, so I decided to make a big pile of fried mushrooms and build myself a mushroom, cheese, and veggie burger. It was delish! I liked it MUCH better than hamburger.

Today, I made chili and I bought a package of that fake Ground Round from the soy department. I didn't tell the boys, and I put a lot more veggies in that I usually do. The chili was great and although they did eventually notice the meat was a bit "different", they said it tasted great and agreed I could make it again.

So now that I have had 3 days of no meat, how many can I go? My only concern is how to get enough protein - I believe I need at least 60-70 grams of protein per day and I don't know how I can get that much without eating meat once in awhile. I do still eat dairy products (plain unflavoured yogurt in the morning, 1 % cottage cheese for lunch), but I need to do some calculating and figure out how much protein I would get if I cut out meat.

Undiscovered Talents

On Wednesday, I went to a water colour painting workshop to teach us how to teach kids. Of course, in order to teach painting, we need to experiment ourselves. I was so frustrated at first - I couldn't make the brush do what I wanted but after a bit of playing around, I started to have some success and I managed to make a couple of Christmas cards. I left wanting to head to the art store to buy paint and brushes and watercolour paper. I don't have that natural artistic ability that my super artsy kids have - they can pick up a pencil and scribble and suddenly an image blossoms on the page. Me - I can only copy other people's work - I don't seem to have that creative vision. However, I had a lot of fun and I think it would be great to sit down for a few hours every now and again and play with paint..

Here's my favourite - Merry Christmas!

Regeneration

2010-12-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

It's funny - when I don't blog every day or so and let too much time pass, it's so hard to get started again. I don't seem to know where to start and so I don't.

Anyway, I'm going to start again and I think I'm going to do what I did at this time last year - blog a short post every day, writing what I've done for a work out. That will make me more accountable to get it done. I have big goals for next year but somehow, I don't seem to have the wherewithal to get it done right now. I procrastinate when I get home from work, and the next thing you know, I'm tired and it's too late to work out.

That's not to say I've been doing nothing - I have been running. Funny how I love running so much that it's never something I have to get up the motivation to do. I don't know why I love it - by all estimations, I should hate it - I'm not even any good at it - but still I persevere.

Fall and Early Winter

Going back to school signals the end of the triathlon season for me. This year, it was extended long enough for me to do the Victoria Half Marathon, however marginally, and with any luck next year, I will do the Okanagan Marathon in the same October weekend. But other than that, I seem to lose interest in triathlon training in the fall as my life shifts back to a focus on school and my body decides it needs a break. I don't want my body to take a break - I want to keep on doing some form of exercise at least five days a week, even if it's something completely different from swim/bike/run, but it just doesn't seem to happen. I don't seem to be able to figure out how to equalize my training enthusiasm so that it stays steady for a whole year. I know it's normal to need a few weeks off now and again but I find that once I take a break, I have a hard time getting back into serious training. Right now, it just seems like a relief that I don't have to swim, and the thought of heading down to the "Triathlon" room to ride the trainer seems daunting. And so I run.

Physiotherapist

After the season was over, I met my physio therapist at the gym and he tested my strengths and weaknesses. Not surprisingly, my quads and calves are strong and my glutes and hamstrings are weak. In addition, I need to strengthen my core and abs so I don't have lower back pain caused by my spondylolisthesis. Roy created a strength workout with a focus on legs and core and suggested I do it twice a week. I'm able to do the workout at the gym using machines, and at home using my ball and bands and I've tried (but not hard enough) to do it twice a week as he suggested. My goal for December is to stick to that plan.

At first, the lunges and steps were killing my legs and I could barely walk for 1-2 days after the workout so that was affecting my running. I went back to doing the workout with body weight only and that helped a lot. I think I'm ready to add back the hand weights so today I used small 3 lb weights. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I've decided to go on a 3 day schedule and repeat it - run, weights, trainer ride. That will give me a day's rest after my weight training so it doesn't affect my run.

Diet and Weight

I am not eating as well as I could. I'm not doing badly - my breakfast, lunch and daytime snacks are good and I am drinking lots of water. I've been making regular dinners for the boys and eating smaller portions of dinner but I have also freely been eating junk when it's there. Someone brings treats to work, I eat some. If there are cookies or chips in the house, I indulge. This adds something in the neighbourhood of 300-500 extra calories per day that I do not need. Couple that with less training and you can see where this is leading.

I have gained five lbs since the summer. Well actually, I gained two pounds during the summer and another three this fall. If I eat what I feel like, I could easily gain twenty pounds in a year. It's a constant battle. Normally I don't let myself gain more than three pounds before I cut back calories but this time I managed to let five pounds slip on before I noticed. And now I have Christmas staring me in the face. My goal will have to be to maintain my current weight for the month of December and then get back on track in January. It'll take me 3-4 months to lose the weight that I could easily gain in a month. Being female sucks sometimes.

Dad

My dad died 35 years ago today, December 5, 1975. He was killed when a rotten log broke off and hit him where he was running the saw at Eburne Sawmill in Vancouver, BC. I am still sad when I think about it. Sad and angry. He went to work one day and just never came home. I was 15.

I did talk to him on the phone that afternoon. I was learning to play guitar and I had learned a new song. My Dad called home to chat with my Mom while he was on his dinner break and I insisted that she hold the phone to my guitar so I could play the song for him over the phone. I knew that it couldn't wait until the next day.

That night I was cheerleading at a basketball game at school. Near the end of the game, my best friend saw my Dad standing across the gym watching the game and pointed him out. He was wearing his blue work clothes and carrying his lunch kit. I figured the mill had broken down and he had come home early, stopping by the school on his way home. Our team scored a point and we jumped back into action and when I looked back, he was gone. My friend and I were both surprised that he wasn't there any more but we decided that it must have been someone else.

An hour later, back at home, the police came to tell us that Dad had been killed. The time of the accident was about the same time that we had seen him at the school. I don't know what I believe, but maybe he came to say goodbye. I think Dad hung around for a few weeks after he died. There were several other strange happenings. Yes, I suppose they are just weird coincidences but it helped my 15 year old mind to think he was close by.

Losing my Dad at that age really screwed me up for a few years. I made a lot of bad decisions, I made my mom's life harder than it already was. She had four teenagers and I was doing nothing to set a good example for my younger siblings. Somehow, I managed to turn my life around and do some good but it was a hard struggle.

Anyway, I guess I just want to say that if you have kids - take care of yourself. Be safe. Don't take risks. Be healthy. Your kids need you.

I still miss you Dad and I love you very much. I hope you are proud of the way I turned out.

GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon Race Report

2010-10-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

My first half marathon race: 2:24:04

I had a BLAST today - I enjoyed every moment of the day. First off, I decided that the most important part of today is not how fast I run, but rather a celebration of the fact that I am healthy and fit enough to do a half marathon! I was amazed at how much simpler it was to pack and prepare for a running race, than a triathlon and how "un-nervous" I was feeling. in fact, I never really got nervous at all until I was actually standing in the road, waiting for the gun to sound.

There were 6800 people registered in the Half Marathon so the street was packed. Erik's 8km race started at 7:15 and by the time we parked and got to the race area, it was already 7:00 and we didn't have much time to go check our bags. I had really wanted to watch Erik set off on his run but I still had to go to the bathroom (long lines) so I wished him good luck and he headed off on his own while I got in line for the porto-potties and then took the bag back to the car. I was at my race start at 7:25, ready to run.

I stood about 20 metres back from the 2:15 pace sign. I was supposed to meet from internet friends beside the 2:30 sign but there was no such sign and the area was SO packed with people that I didn't even bother to try to find anyone.

The plan was to try to stick as close to a 10:45 mile as possible which is about a 6:40-6:45/km. I had a hard time keeping my pace that slow for the first 4 km but eventually was able to settle in once the rolling hills started. Here are my splits for the first 7km.

1 km 6:24
2 km 6:22
3 km 6:30
4 km 6:25
5 km 6:42
6 km 6:47
7 km 7:03

Around the 6 km mark, I started to get that familiar tightness in my left knee. "NO" my brain screamed, and I tried to relax and run loose and continue to use good form. "I am feeling GREAT, do NOT let my ITB tighten up right now. I haven't had a SINGLE ITB issue since Oliver, please don't let it happen now."

But tighten it did, so I quickly pulled over and did two 30 second stretches to loosen it up, and got back on the road. It felt better. I ran for a little while and then it began to tighten again. I tried to switching up my pace, lifting my heels up a little more, trying not to land too hard etc etc. But no - it was getting painful and starting to lock up. I kept on running but I was starting to slow down a little. Over the next 7 km, I had to stop and stretch my ITB about 5-6 times, each time losing about a minute of time. When I ran, I was able to keep a good pace but overall, I was slowing down. Several times, my knee locked to the point that I had sharp stabbing pain and/or it would buckle when I put weight on it. For awhile I opted to do a Terry Fox kind of hop thing and put a lot of weight on my right leg so I could swing my left leg without bending it very much and take the pressure off my knee. However, I could only do that for awhile before my right quad started to cramp up with all the extra work it was doing. Argh.... Here are my splits for the next 7 km

8 km 6:42
9 km 6:54
10 km 7:32
11 km 7:11
12 km 6:54
13 km 7:57
14 km 6:51

You can easily see the places where I stopped to stretch. Luckily, because I had gone out a little fast for my first 4 km, my overall avg pace was still around 6:50 which wasn't too far off my goal.

Then suddenly, around the 15th km, my knee finally settled down and let me run. I worked hard at my form and staying loose, and I don't know if it just went numb by that time or what, but I was happy. I started running a little faster, knowing that I wasn't far from meeting up with Carlos at the 4km and finishing up.

15 km 6:44
16 km 6:40
17 km 6:55 (one last stretch after a hill)
18 km 6:40
19 km 6:19 (kicked it up now)
20 km 6:16
21.2 km 6:01

By the last 3 km, I was feeling great and felt like I could really push to the end. Don't get me wrong, my knee still hurt and both hips are stiff and sore, but this was pain I could live with. I was SO happy that I could have enough in the engine to run hard at the end, I was grinning as I crossed the finish line, and other than my stupid knee, I felt like I could have run a marathon today. It was great to see Erik there at the finish, huge smile on his face! He had good news for his race too.

Thanks to everyone for all your good wishes and support through my running struggles. I loved this race SO much today. It felt so much less stressful than doing a tri - maybe I should change my name to Kelownagurl Runs? lol, just kidding...

In the meantime, here's some video that Carlos, the Jackal, recorded when he ran with me today. Thanks Carlos!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWNZ3z5-iA&feature=sub

So - my overall time was only about 2 minutes slower than my goal and I figure if I hadn't had to stop to stretch, I could easily have come in 2:15. Next time. :)

After the race, they gave me a plastic sheet to wrap around my shoulders and I got in line for the food. After a few minutes, I realized it would be a long time before I would reach the tables, so I decided to by pass and go meet up with Erik and Carlos. We took a few pictures and I started to get chilled. I was shivering uncontrollably and needed to get some food and into a warm bath so Carlos headed home and we walked back to the car. We stopped at Starbucks to get a coffee and I bought a snack and then we headed back to the B&B. My legs were really starting to stiffen up by the time we got back and I could barely get up the stairs to our room. I iced my knee for a little while and then had a hot epsom salts bath and ate some crackers and cheese. Later, we went out for a walk and wandered over to the Penny Farthing Pub in Oak Bay where we sat drinking beer and wine with a few internet friends for the next few hours.

I was high on endorphins for the rest of the day for sure! I LOVED this race. LOVED it! I can't imagine how cool it must be to actually run a race without having some sort of injury issue - it must be awesome and I can't wait until my next one. :)

Other stats and gear:

Temp: 13C 55F
Weather: mostly overcast, strong headwind along the water on the last 5 km.
Clothing/gear:
* Sugoi Fizz tank
* Long sleeved tech shirt (Yellow Club Fat Ass shirt ;)
* Tri shorts
* Socks
* Newton Motion Performance Trainer
* Sugoi Zap vest that I took off and rolled up onto my pack after the first 3 k
* Oliver Half Iron running cap
* North Face Women's Hydration Pack with 2 litres of water, 3 scoops of Carbo Pro (336 cals),
and 3 Citrus Nuun tablets.

Gun time: 2:27:53
Chip time: 2:24:04
I was 208/384 women in my age group.

Erik's Stats

Goal time: 42:00 minutes

Race time: 42:08!

11/53 in his age group which I think is AWESOME!!

If you haven't got anything nice to say....

2010-10-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

...don't say anything at all?

That's what my dear departed daddy always used to say.

OK, it's not like my life has sucked for the last 6 weeks since the Apple triathlon - far from it. I'm back to school, have a great class, and good friends, I'm enjoying Erik's retirement as much as he is, and the fall weather has been gorgeous - what's not to like?

It's just that this blog mainly focuses on my training, and whenever I'm in a training funk and/or struggling with injuries, which tends to be a lot of the time, I find it harder to blog without sounding like a big freaking whiner.

And how many times do you REALLY need to read about my shins? I mean seriously? You all post and comment and say super nice supportive things when they are messed up, and then you get all excited and happy and "yay, it's finally over" when they're good, and then they get effed up again. I'm sure you are running out of things to say. I don't blame you.

And so I haven't blogged.

At any rate, here's the update and my race plan, for what it's worth.

Update since August 23

As usual, after my last race (Apple Triathlon), my shins hurt. It happens after every race, and quite often, after any run faster than a 10 min mile. So I did a test run about 4 days after the race, and they hurt enough that coach benched me for 10-14 days and said I had to pool run or do the elliptical. I opted for the elliptical because I actually enjoy doing it, as opposed to pool running, which you know I despise.

I hit the gym about 3 times a week for longer and longer elliptical sessions for two weeks until I was totally sick to death of the elliptical. 1:45 is bordering on cruel and unusual punishment, but it was integral to keep my fitness level up and do SOMETHING that simulated running without the pounding. I usually did intervals which helped to make the time go faster.

Two weeks later, in mid September, I got to try a gentle run. It felt ok. So I tried a longer run (1:30 on the weekend) and all went well. For the next two weeks, I had to really baby my shins, as they were always on the verge of trouble. If I ran long, I had to take 3 days off before I ran again. If I ran faster than an 11 min mile, I had to rest for several days. I was able to get two 90 minute long runs in during that time and then suddenly, it was already time to taper for the half marathon.

Tapering with almost no training in a month. Interesting. I feel like my endurance is suffering because at the end of the "long" runs, I am slowing down and I'm not sure if I'd be able to run for another hour if I had to. And so, once again, I am entering a race with a big question mark over my head.

Ya know, for once, I'd like to do the training and not be quasi-injured, and actually be able to race in top form. That has not happened since my very first triathlon, 3 years ago.

So - Victoria. We have our B&B booked for Saturday and Sunday night. We have reservations for the ferry, and a house sitter booked. We should arrived in Victoria just in time to be able to pick up our race package before 6pm. We will likely hook up with our ultra runner friend Carlos, the Jackal, and we'll drive the race course, check into our B&B, and get a light dinner.

Erik's 8k race starts at 7:15 am Sunday, and mine, 2 blocks away at 7:30. I am hoping to see him off but nobody will be there to take photos of us so, oh well...

Pacing plan: Coach and I talked on Skype tonight about how I should approach this race. In a perfect world, I could maintain a 6:15/km pace (10 min mile) for the entire race and come in around 2:15. However, the course is rolling and I haven't run a lot of hills. It could be raining, and I haven't run in the rain. It could be cold. I have no idea what to expect. But we've decided that I'll start out at a 6:45 pace, which is about a 10:40 mile, and hold that for about 10 miles if I can. And then, if I'm feeling good, I'll push the last 5 km. I have absolutely no idea if I can do that, but I sure want to.

The interesting thing is this - my shins will not likely be a problem DURING the run if I rest this week. And since I haven't had any problems (KNOCK ON WOOD) with my ITB for the past month and I'm now beginning to think that's because I haven't been riding my bike. (Interesting aside, I've always thought running caused my ITB problems but now I'm starting to think that's not the case). It was my ITB that caused my slow 2:58 run at the Oliver Half Iron last June. So - if I can run the half without shin or ITB pain, and I tape up my PTT nicely, the only thing to slow me down would be fatigue. That's a serious possibility since I haven't trained long for awhile, but it's a problem that could be overcome mentally.

So Sunday may become a test of my mental endurance. And that sounds more painful than shin splints. LOL...

Bring it on - I'm ready. :)

For those of you who are curious, the Good Life Victoria Marathon (formerly the Royal Victoria Marathon) will be streaming live finish line video for the first time this year. If it works, you can find the video here or here.

And I will attempt to embed it here.

The earliest I could finish would be in 2:15 - about 9:45 am, but I won't be starting near the front so it could take me 5 mins to reach the starting line (me and 6800 of my closest friends). More likely, I'll be crossing the finish line between 10:00 and 10:15 am and maybe even as late as 10:30. But who the hell knows. :)

Erik, by the way, should be done his 8km race in close to 42 minutes, putting his finish line time just after 7:55. I don't know what time they start the video, but check it out if you are up and about early Sunday morning. :)

Oh, by the way, Erik's bib #13641 and mine is #6292

Race Results can be found here.

See you on the other side!

Kelownagurl's Blog

Weekly Update

Sugoi Versa Jacket Review

Marathon Mindset

Tri-Ripped

Staying Motivated

Struggling Along

Down one pound, hurrah!

Not a bad day

Cravings

Happy New Year!

2011 in the bag, almost

2011 Totals - about 180 hrs S, B, R

2010 Totals - about 234 hrs S, B, R

2009 Totals - about 188 hrs S, B, R

2008 Totals - about 216 hrs S, B, R

Running, a fever

December

A New Month

End of Week Three

Day 11-16 Catchup

Day 10 - Race Recovery, and Following Through

Day 9 - Okanagan 10k Race

Day 6, 7, 8....

Day 5 - Happy World Teachers' Day!

Day 4 - Playing it Smart

Day Three - Monday, what can I say?

Day Two - Long(ish) Run

Today is the First Day of the Rest of...

Regrouping Part 4

Regrouping Part 3 - Tidbits

Regrouping Part 2

Time to Regroup

Six Pounds of Fat

Number Crunching

When Worlds Collide

The MRI

Post-Race Musings

Twas the Night Before Triathlon

Summer

San Francisco First Half Marathon - July 31, 2011

Osoyoos Desert Half Iron Relay - July 9, 2011

Our team race number. Osoyoos Desert Half Iron.

School's (almost) Out!

Oliver Half Iron Race Report 2011

Countdown to my 2nd Half Ironman

Oliver Sprint Triathlon Race Report 2011

Looks like I'll be racing.

Decisions, Decisions

Running on the Mission Creek Greenway

Time to update

Okanagan College Half Marathon 2011 Race Report

Half Marathon Race Plan

Belated Merry Christmas to me!

KG's ABC's...

Helloooooo??

Testing the waters

Afraid to Jinx it but....

By George, I think it's working!

Base Training

"Your Best Triathlon" by Joe Friel

No Pain, No Gain?

Happy New Year!

Training Totals

2010 Totals

2009 Totals

2008 Totals

Tagged!

Lessons Learned

A New Level of Incompetence?

December 9

Regeneration

GoodLife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon Race Report

If you haven't got anything nice to say....