Monday, August 31, 2009

Another week done!

Hey guys,

So here's the training scoop:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, August 24, 2009

Back at it...

I am finally gearing up for Ironman Cozumel.

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

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

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

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

I'll let the pictures do the talking





































Thursday, August 6, 2009

Changes

Hey guys!

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

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

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

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

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

Here are the overall results:

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

Total - 6:14

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

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

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

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

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