From Here to There

My journey in fitness from here (not so good!) to there (woohooo!!)

Monday, June 30, 2008

Steve's on vacation, so I'm not getting much done, but we are having a nice time! I've been out on a few runs, they weren't the worst, so that's hopeful. We've also had a couple of bike rides and I've come to the conclusion that my bike shorts that I've worn for years hurt me. I do much better on the skinny 2XU tri shorts I bought this year. So off to the giveaway bag the oldies go. They are in terrific shape (sadly, we haven't been biking as much as we wanted to the past couple of years).

Tomorrow is Canada Day. We have a race at 7:30 AM. Since we're picking up my sister in law too, it's out the door at 6:15. Eeep that's an early start. Going to take my breakfast with me, because that's just too early. There's no rain forecast for tomorrow, considering we've had rain every day but two in June, I'm hoping the tides are turning. Back to tomorrow, we're having the family over tomorrow afternoon for a BBQ and to watch the Snowbirds fly by. They have been doing flybys the past 5 days at least once a day, and tomorrow is the big day. We're close to the airport so they always fly over us too, but not so close that we hear planes. We might hear one a day!

Oh and in other news, there's been a Dell miracle. My laptop arrived today! It wasn't supposed to arrive for 3 weeks. I didn't think they ever shipped early!

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Saturday, June 21, 2008

I guess it's time to post something!

Running wasn't improving, so 10 days ago I decided to cut my beta blocker dose in half, to .5 pill twice a day. My heart rate is now averaging in the 120s instead of the teens. Not perfect, but much better.

I was able to run without a walk break last week for my planned 8k. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't horrible either. Today's 10k I had planned walk breaks, but my lungs weren't happy... someone was apparently sitting on my chest the whole way. But I got it done, with no nasty after effects.

Speaking of nasty after effects, I went out with a friend last Friday night, and considering we were in a pub, I ate what I thought would be decent before race food. The menu said: Irish nachos - layers of potatoes with jalapeƱos, melted cheese, onions and tomatoes; and Spring rolls - fresh locally grown vegetables with hoisin and sweet chili sauces. What did we get? Greasy drippy wedge fries for the nachos with what looked like cheese whiz on it (don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the whiz, but not on fries), and deep fried spring rolls (nothing in the menu about deep frying) stuffed with cabbage. Oh man, this was not going to be pretty. I ate some because I was starving, and no doubt ate too much. I felt pretty yucky, and spent most of the night in the bathroom. Woke up and back in the bathroom a few times, so needless to say, my race wasn't happening. I did go, and cheered Steve and my friend Karen, Steve won his AG, Karen placed second. Boo-urns, I would have placed in my AG too had I run it. Oh well, next year. I spent the rest of the day eating salty stuff and shivered. No idea if it was food poisoning, a bug, or just too much grease, but I won't be doing that again any time soon.

The job search is continuing. I met with a Gov't recruiter on Friday, and meet another on Monday. I'm more than happy to explore the consulting route.

Had to return my work equipment. Boy of boy do I miss my laptop :( And the one I bought from Dell? 5.5 weeks to deliver because they are out of batteries. How I hate Dell, there is always a problem. If I could have afforded a Mac, I would have gone that route. Until then I have to use the home PC. I'm tempted to move it to my office, it's so much more comfortable.

That's about it. Not great rides recently, it's rained all but 3 days (and so far so good today) in June. And not little showers either. Torrential downpours. Stuff you don't want to be on a bike for. I came home one day last week to what I thought was foam bubbles from my eavestroughs. Nope - chickpea sized hail. Garden survived though thank goodness.

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Friday, June 06, 2008

I had the greatest hope for a good run on Wednesday morning. But it wasn't meant to be. It was a struggle from the get go, I just couldn't get any air in my lungs. Everything is in full bloom and perfumy, which I love, even though it causes me grief. It was windy, and there was a pollen storm. Never saw that before! The worst part of the run was a toss up between my dead legs or lack of heartrate. I mean, come on... max heart rate 111 bpm?!? I don't understand why the meds are so inconsistent, some days I can see 140's when I run, and others, not so much. Almost forgot! It did get worse, at 7k I discovered that there are no bushes by the canal between Carleton U and Hogsback Bridge. NONE that would hide my whiteness! I've never had intestinal issues before while running, so this was a shocker. So I tried to run, to get to the bathroom faster, but had to abruptly stop, to prevent an accident. So the last 4k weren't that great, but I got 11k on my feet at least. And made it to the bathroom in time :)

Today was Steve's day off, so after chatting with a recruiter we got the bikes and went to the Rockliffe Parkway. There was thunder in the air, and I had a splitting headache. So I started out easy, finishing the 22k with an overall speed of 26km/hr (16mph). I was really happy with my ride, it never felt hard, just a really smooth ride. LOVED IT! I hopped off the bike, locked it up next to Steve's, threw on my running shoes and started my run. My legs were a tiny bit wobbly, but not bad at all. I finished the planned 3k with a pace of 6:15/km. Best brick ever! Next week we're aiming for 25km/4km. The du is 5 weeks away.

No other real news to report. Working on my resume, and it's a struggle. I'm just not happy with the format. I have a few jobs I want to apply for that close next week so I need to get moving! My plan is to finish it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

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Monday, June 02, 2008

Thanks Ellie :)

Just wanted to report in, and send a quick thank you to Ellie - I fought my run, I really did. I was too hungry at lunch time to get out, then napped in the afternoon and woke up feeling all nasty, and got all 'snippy' with KT and Steve, because I really didn't want to go.

But I did. We had a bad thunderstorm causing our first humid day, and it hit me right in the lungs. I had the hardest time getting any air in, I hate that. Steve stuck by me for the first 1.5k, and then I sent him on his way, thinking I was going to turn back, which I didn't until another km later. I didn't get my 11k in, but I did get in 5k. I'll do the 11 on Thursday instead.

Thanks Ellie, for the kick I needed. I hope you're ride went well!

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Kick me

I was just loading my workouts to the Buckeye Outdoors Training Site (great great great little tool!) and I noticed that I hadn't loaded a workout since May 4th. I was so busy with work that I had no time. Then I lost my job, and was busy doing job search and getting my head straightish that I didn't take the time to do it.

I noticed I ran once last week. I only biked once last week. I've had a horrible headache since getting laid off on the 20th which I know is 50% allergies, 50% stress, and the best thing to clear my head would be to get out for a run or a ride. I've been good in working on job search every day until 1pm or so, then the idea is to clean the house, read a book, etc, but what happened 3 days last week is I ate wrong, Steve came home later than expected and I would be starving, or I just fell asleep and felt crappy when waking up that instead I'd get takeout and basically curl up. Bah!!

Thanks Karen for the Excuse Amnesty Run. It got me out of the house last week for that one run.

Yesterday I had planned to run 10-11k, but plans changed (originally we were going to have the family over for lunch to hang on the new deck, and I could run in the morning) to breakfast at 10AM. Steve ran and met us there, but I get really sweaty, and I really need to buy new running shorts and bra (they smell funky after a few years), and I wasn't going to offend my family for 90 minutes! Nor was I interested in sitting in sweaty garb for 90 minutes. That's a yeast breeding ground!

The plan for today is job search starting at 8AM, then at noon head out for my 10-11k. If Steve decides to run after work, I'll go with him but take my bike for an easy ride. It's imperative that I get my exercise in order again. Steve signed me up for another 5k on June 14th (with my recent 5k time compared to last year's results I would place in my AG), July 1st I have the Canada Day 10k! Ok, I'm motivated now :)

Will report on my run later.

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