Not quite Triathlon...

Hello!

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

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

Leslie

Quick Update

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Training!
Leslie

Riding Outside

Hello!

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


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


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

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

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


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


Happy Training

Swim Slacker

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

All Day

Hey,

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

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

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

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

Leslie

Please warm up...just a little

Hey!

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

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

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

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

Anyway, back to work!

Happy Training :)

Leslie

I figured it was about time...

Hello my friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's Cooking?

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Training everyone!

My Training Partner is Injured....

Hello,


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well until next time - Happy Training