The wee run

I forgot to post this yesterday, and I was doing so well!

Yesterday morning I ran a wee 5k... how nice that it's feeling wee again! Ran it straight in my fastest time of 2007 - 34:20, 6:51/km. Again, very windy, but nice and cool.

I'm working to beat last year's best pace of 6:36/km. That's going to take some work. But I've been gradually taking off the seconds, so it may happen sometime by fall. I'm hoping!

Today is a rest day, which means either a 45 min walk, or 45 mins of yoga. I probably should do the yoga, but will most likely walk because it's easier. I'm not bendy, and yoga sucks when you're not bendy!

Looking forward to 5PM... Canada Day long weekend! Yippee!

I have a boo boo

And it's all the darn boot camp's fault. We saw them last week, 6 woman carrying a log on their shoulders, two guys walking next to them, and yes, taking over the whole path. So when you come along at 30km/hr, as we did today, you have to ring your bell, then shout at them to get out of the way, as you break with all your might. Because they don't move too quickly.

Lucky for me, on the way back, getting ready for killer winding hill, shifting into my granny gear, they were on their side of the path, but then moved to the centre again. One of the trainers said "move over ladies there's a cyclist" but by that time I'd already had to stop and unclip, or fall over. I had to walk the @#$@#$ hill because I'm not skilled enough yet to get up that hill without a head start. So they move to the left of the path (brain surgeons they are not) and I'm on the right walking. When they decide to move to the left just as I'm clipping in my left foot, and slam into me. I have a nice gash at my achilles. I don't blame the ladies, they are too unfocused to know what the heck they're doing. But these two yahoos should know better and share the path. They could go on the grass, I can't.

Other than that the ride was good, it was 42C/104F when we left the house, but at least it was windy... here I am grateful for the wind. Got a little bit of speed going maxing at 35km/hr, making this week's 20k 17 sec/km faster. Would have been even better I didn't have to dismount.

Off to shoot this group an email to remind them of the path etiquette.

Whoa nellie it's hot

So a meeting was booked during my normal lunch workout time, which spurred me to have a look at my schedule, and the weather network.

I have gotten used to running at lunch time, meaning I've had a light breakfast mostly digested. So running in the morning was going to be new again. I woke this morning to an eggo waffle, and after doing my daily first thing in the morning work tasks, headed to the canal for 9AM. And it was already hot and humid. Thank goodness for the headwind. Wait, did I actually write that?

The schedule called for 10k, at 10/1. So that's what I did. I was soaking with sweat and even had a small fly drown on the sweat of my hand. Poor creature! It wasn't until 7k that I was really starting to feel it, and I wanted to walk. I didn't. I refused to let myself walk until Gamine beeped. Thank you Arcade Fire for keeping my pace - "keep the una running!". LOVE them. And their local, three of them went to my daughter's high school. Check them out below.





While my run wasn't as 'fast' as Saturday's first 10k in the modern era (since re-starting at 1/1 in January), I am so happy that I was only 2 sec/km slower, the route is a tiny bit hillier, and the heat. I got home at 11AM and it was already 33C/91F. Ya, no wonder I was sweating so much!

I'm starting to get paranoid. This whole training thing is going really really really well. Even though I and my legs were tired after my run, I was still thinking it would be a great day to get on the bike. Instead I booked some time with Ryan to adjust my bike orthotics on Thursday. I really hope the thunderstorms that are planned for tomorrow afternoon don't happen until bed time, as we have a 20k rematch of last week's bike along the river to do tomorrow. Unfortunately, tomorrow's weather is projected to be the same as today's. If we can match last week's ride it will be amazing, since it was so much cooler.

I have some work to do

So yesterday we decided to ride the Graham Beasley Du bike route. I was thinking of maybe taking a leap and racing this in a couple of weeks. The last time I did this race was a DNF in 2004 (no excuses, I was really out of shape and gave up), and 2nd in my age group (ok, only 2 showed!) in 2003. Or it might be 2005/2004. I'll have to check. But it doesn't matter.

Anyway, we motored to Carleton Place yesterday morning and parked the car in 'transition'. We felt naughty. I drove around the parking lot to get used to clipping in with my new shoes (the left clip is pretty tight). Our game plan was to just go.

Oh my god. My quads were really tired from yesterday's 10k. While I am thrilled with my fitness level as it is, it's still soooooo poor! No place to go but up! This course has rolling hills, some steeper than others. I had to hit the granny gear once. On the upside, my pace didn't drop below 20km/hr on any hill, except for one, where it dropped to 11km/hr.

I'm bummed though, I thought I rocked it. It felt like I rocked it. Looking at my race results, I finished 8 minutes slower than the race in 2003.

I have a target now... we're going back in a few weeks, and I'm going to beat that best time!

Not sure if I mentioned this... but I have fleshed out my training plan to include more cross training. Sunday is my first race since 2005, and that's the week I start to brick. Can't wait :D

And I rocked it

Last night I was eating portobello risotto as a really late dinner. As I was finishing it my throat got all fuzzy, itchy and it was hard to swaller. Hmmm... never had that before when I ate risotto. It was packaged so I figured maybe there was something in it I was becoming allergic to. So I drank tons of water, and ate some potato chips (purely for the sharpness of the chips, not for the flavour, honest) to try and get my throat to stop feeling swollen and like there was something stuck in it.

I went to bed early, and slept like the dead. So much so that I was snoring so loudly I woke Steve up at 4AM. That never happens. I woke up at 8AM and my throat was still sore. I was feeling mildly nauseated, my eyes were runny and half my head was sore. I figured a cold was coming on.

So I went running. I set Gamine to 10/1 (thanks txskatemom, I never knew it did this until reading it in your blog!), and went to the canal. It was beautifully cool but boy was it windy. There were white caps on the canal. Or as whitecappy as it gets.

I had 10k planned, a loop of the canal including the arboretum. It's been at least a year since I ran it. The first 3/4km was into the wind, so naturally I had mostly a tailwind for the Queen Elizabeth side, half the run. It felt awesome. I had no trouble running the dinky hill that I normally find tough (no doubt because it usually hits me 200m into the run) nor the much steeper and longer hill at the locks. I even forgot to walk once. Of course after crossing the locks to the Colonel By side, I was hit with the wind, and watched my pace drop by almost 30sec/km. But it still felt awesome. It wasn't until my last km when I started to feel my quads. After I finished, I walked another km to cool down, stretched, hopped into the car, and stopped for soup for my throat. My nausea was gone, and frankly I was feeling great.

A little embarrassed by the quantity of salt on my face though. That's not pretty.

After a quick shower Steve arrived from work and we went bike shoe shopping. I got a great pair, and I really hope they will help alleviate the fatigue my right foot feels after 10k. We'll find out tomorrow when we bike the Graham Beasley Du bike leg. No the race isn't on, but I know the route and want to test myself with new shoes. And try to get some confidence back.

Hahaha, Lance Armstrong has a cameo in You, Me and Dupree. Back to the movie.

Forward, always forward

In an effort to post a little more, and finally some good stuff to post about, I thought instead of blog reading (which I'm horribly behind on) I would quickly post an update.

Since Sunday's bike ride, my workouts have been awesome. The highlights would be Wednesday's 20km bike ride and yesterday's 6km run.

First the bike. I love my bike. But I think it's too big for me, or I'm too fat for it, or I'm just really unskilled. Or cowardly in my old age. When I was 10 I had my brother's beaten up ten speed. Too big? You bet. Feeling out of control? Never. I inherited the bike and used to ride it in the Gatineau's when we lived at the foot of the park. From age 15 - 17 I would come down the hills in as much of a tuck as I could muster and fly. On Beethoven, my current road bike, I've clocked myself going 60km/hr with breaks as hard as I could squeeze going down those hills. I must have been clocking 70+ as a kid. Never once did I feel any concern. Even the day my brakes failed and I had to miss the stop sign at the bottom, and do a fast turn to stop from crossing the very busy road/highway. Ok, that caused my heart to speed up a little. But I never felt out of control.

On Beethoven I can't seem to 'lift' the front wheel to hop the inch on a curb, or to hop over a ripple in the road. I barrel over full force, bike making horrible noises, as am I. I can't turn within a lane because I'm too unsteady, again, feeling that I'm not in control of the bike. Yes, when I complete duathlons on the bike I have to stop, get off, and turn. SO EMBARRASSING. The bike was fitted for me, and being a road bike, not as small as a tri bike (by small I mean the top tube) it's a little longer. I *think* I'm reaching forward too much, as I'm always 'falling forward', no matter how I adjust my seat. I'm going to get fitted again - maybe my bigger belly is making the forward lean too uncomfortable so I sit wrong. I'm getting sore forearms and tingling fingers every time. I'm hoping that I can get either a taller collar on my handlebars, or a shorter other bar (that's the technical term right? ;o)) to bring it closer to me an inch or two. Or maybe I just need to lose the belly ;o).

Back to the ride. Being only the second ride of the season, after Sunday's little ride, we motored. On flat road I rock. On older asphalt I suck. Again, the lack of control. I pushed hard and tried to not let the bumps and quick turns get to me, and keep my cadence above 80. I did ok, my butt wasn't too sore from Sunday (just a little reminder that it was on the saddle on Sunday) and I clocked some good speeds for me (peaking at 36km/hr).; My focus was to not drop below 26km/hr. And I mostly did.

I do need new bike shoes though, mine are too soft, I lose too much power, and one foot aches (might be orthotic related, but I'll figure it out after I get new shoes) to the point I need to stop peddling and stretch. If anyone reads this with bike expertise, I'd gladly accept any advice!

So now the run. Yesterday my schedule called for 6km, and injured Steve came along. Since the weather was beautiful and for once, not hot, I decided to try my best to run as long as I could without a walk break. My plan was really to begin this after next Sunday's 10k race, when half training starts and I have wee runs scattered in there, but the weather was too nice to ignore. I ran the whole thing. Slowly. I could have run further. Ya baby. I think we're back :). Unfortunately Steve didn't fare as well, with his protruding lower lumbar discs affecting some nerve in his leg which prevents him from bending it when he runs (picture Terry Fox). At some point when I left him (he made me go on when he walked) his leg gave out, and he fell. I'm so bummed for him. I hope they can fix him up soon, he's really depressed, because even duathlons are in doubt now as he can't run 4k anymore :(. I kept trying to keep his spirits up by telling him to focus on biking more as it hurts less.

Feeling buoyed by my progress, at least it's finally starting to show, I'm on track for a fall half marathon. I'm also planning a sprint duathlon for September. I'm going to drop one run per week, and add a brick instead.

I'm psyched and it feels good. Now to get to work!

Bizzy bizzy!

I thought I posted last week! School two nights a week, work, and training are taking up a lot of time!

This was probably the most beautiful weekend of my life. Weather wise that is. We've had a spectacularly hot week, with no rain except over night. Just gorgeous.

Until yesterday's run at 1PM. Got out way too late, and it was 35C. I hardly ever drink when running, just a sip every 10 minutes. By 6k I had taking in my two flasks = 12oz. Yikes. I stopped the 10/1 and did what I could to finish the last 3k. I'm just a big sweaty girl. When I finished, I drank another 8oz of water at the fountain, and when my daughter met me with a huge bottle of grape gatorade (best flavour EVER) I drank half the bottle before I finished stretching. I tried to top up the rest of the day, which wasn't hard because I was so thirsty. This morning I was still down 5 lbs from yesterday.

But this morning was bike day! Unfortunately I fought with the stupid bike rack for 20 mins, then we left. Half way to my brother's (he's giving KT a bike) I realize I forgot my helmet and gloves. CRAP. Turned around, got my helmet and gloves, and pulled in to my brother's a full 55 mins late. :( But the threat of thunderstorms blew over in that time!

We didn't bike long (only 30 mins) but we had fun and it felt really easy. Great first ride. Since we were so late, by the time we finished up it was lunch time so we went to Elgin Street Diner for lunch. Yum. After that we went to the cemetery to visit Dad (and Mom), then came home to sit in the back yard for a couple of hours, watching the birds and reading. Gorgeous.

I had some strange leg twinges at the back of my knee which started the evening of Thursday's run, and lasted until about 10 mins into yesterday's run. Then it went away, and never came back. Odd. I'll take odd though :)

This week should be good workout wise, but it will be a challenge to get it all in with... school and work.

Rain go away!

Ok, just for tonight. We really want to head to Sens Mile/City Hall for the game tonight to cheer outside, but I don't want to do it in the rain. I tend to get sick lately if I am out in the rain for hours! Go Sens Go!

Anyway, it's been a huge week. My school assignment last weekend took HOURS to do. Way more than I expected. I then had to prep for my first test in this class. On the upside, no homework this past weekend!

Had some great runs in the past week. The best would have been Friday's 5k. While it was stinkin' hot and humid (33C), I was able to run my best pace of 2007 since re-starting my run program, at 7:07/km. I've been running 10/1 the past few weeks, and really wanted to run it straight through, but I didn't have it in me. Just too hot, and heart rate was getting too high. So I ran 18 mins, walked one, and ran another 15. Ya man. It rocked.

Saturday I decided while watching the game it would be a great time to start strength training, yet again. I hate it, but I did it.

Lesson learned, I don't do well when strength training before my 'long run'. Sunday's scheduled run was 8k. After such a great run on Friday, I expected great things, especially since it was much cooler, at 25C. From the get go my legs were heavy and tired. It took fortitude to not walk before my 10 minutes were up. I messed up my Garmin somehow, so I couldn't see my pace, which was liberating in one way, because I don't think I could have pushed it much harder! It never got easier, as I had thought it would, but it also never got any worse. I thought I had a headwind on the way out... wake up call, that was nothing compared to the way back. Oh well. Average pace 7:31/km, but my heart rate was at 150, which is outstanding for me this year.

After my run I walked for a bit to cooldown. I usually do 1km, but I was so wrapped up in my iPod and the ducklings, that I walked 2.65km. :)

I feel great today, no soreness whatsoever. I know tomorrow's run is going to be great. Now if only this rain will go away, I can go stand in a crowd of 20 000 for 6 hours!