If you don’t succeed…

…try, try again.  Right?  This morning was attempt number two for my run commute in to work.  My brain knew it and was ready as I slowly started waking up before my alarm went off.  When my alarm rang at 4:30 I flew up and out of bed.  I got ready, drank some coffee and water, took Finlay for a walk and headed out the door.  I decided to run with my Camelbak and the Infinit run formula again since it worked so well the last time.

I wasn’t sure how the legs would feel since I’ve been pushing the hills on the bike this week.  I was maybe a wee bit slower but my legs didn’t feel trashed at all.  The sun was starting to rise and it felt fresh and delicious out.

Chug, chug, chug along.  It was really quiet on the roads and there were a lot fewer cyclists commuting in along this route than normal.  It was almost peaceful!

The Infinit worked really well.  It kept me hydrated and no need for any extra gels at all.  And no bonking at the end!  I didn’t want to waste time running to my office, grabbing a gym bag, walking to the Y to get ready and back.  That whole ordeal takes an hour.  A few weeks ago I started renting a small locked basket at the Y to keep shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, you name it.  When I swam earlier this week I also left behind some clean shorts and a t-shirt to change into.  This way I could run straight to the Y and save some time.

I was supposed to go for 2:15, but just after 2:05 I was at the Y.  I didn’t want to get to work too late so I called it a day.  Overall it was a great run!  I felt strong all the way through the end, no fading at all!

Woo hoo, tomorrow is Friday!  This week has just flown by!!

Midweek Looonnnngg Bikes – Part II

Wednesday Early Morning Loonnng Run

I was all set to run into work on Wednesday morning.  I woke up at 2 am to the sound of pouring rain.  When the alarm went off at 4:30 it looked like things had dried out, but it started pouring just as I was taking Finlay for a walk.  I didn’t want to run in that! 

Wednesday Afternoon Loonnng Bike

I opted to get my mid-week long ride in this afternoon – 2 hours!  I mapped out a new ride from my house then out on the rural roads towards Cochrane.  That is one of the things I love about where I live.  5 minutes and it looks like you are in the middle of nowhere!  Since this was a brand new route for me (and I have a history of missing turns/getting lost) I decided to upload the course to my Garmin for the first time ever.  You need to add in flags within the course in Garmin Training Center to get a beep telling you to turn though. 

Continuing along the theme of using technology to power my ride I decided to put my iPhone to use.  Since the phone can play music through a speaker I loaded up the tunes, put the phone in my Bento box and pedaled away.  This way I could hear cars coming but the tunes provided some additional entertainment along the way. 

The route I mapped out was beautiful.  And hilly!  I took the time to look up and appreciate the scenery.  This new route was great and I’d definitely ride it again.  I rode past farms and tons of horses, plus an amazing stable.  The weather was nice and warm, and not too windy either.  For a little reprieve on the way back I finished up riding along highway 1A from Cochrane towards town.  Slight downhill and a chance to get down into aero and just pedal, pedal, pedal quickly home!  I finished up with 1:56 of riding, just over 32 miles with 1031 feet of climbing. 
Fingers crossed for good weather luck tomorrow for my long run!

Midweek Looonnnngg Bikes – Part I

Welcome to final build week for Lake Stevens!  Every day I get more and more excited about the race…and the whole trip associated with it!  This is actually going to be my big vacation for the year so I’ve been looking forward to this for awhile.

Tuesday Swim

After taking Monday as a rest day it was back to work on Tuesday.  I was at the pool early Tuesday morning for a great workout.  I ran into my friend and teammate Michelle and we wound up sharing a lane.  The company was great even though we were doing different workouts.  I had a 2300m workout with some long hard sets in it.  It went really well!

Tuesday Group Ride – Coming Round the Mountain!

Tuesday night were supposed to be hill repeats out in Cochrane.  As I started driving out there it started raining.  Ack!  I don’t want to ride hill repeats in the rain!  Since I was already on the road I just kept going, but I had already rearranged my schedule around in my head just in case I couldn’t ride.  By the time I got to Cochrane the roads were slick, but no more rain.  I think a lot of us were unsure about riding hills…but off we went! 

I’ve only ridden up the main Cochrane hill once.  My goal was to do all of my repeats up the main hill – 400 feet of elevation gain over 1.17 mi.  The other option is to go up Gleneagles, but the grade isn’t nearly as steep.  I wanted to really knock the harder repeats out instead!  I kept my effort steady and focused on feeling strong the entire way.  I wound up getting “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” in my head as I was going up and I spun the pedals in time with the tune in my head.  I got in three repeats up Cochrane hill, with each repeat getting a touch faster.  Boo yah!  1688 feet of climbing over 22.5 mi.
This workout has given me a lot of confidence for the Lake Stevens 70.3.  I might not be a super fast climber, but I know that I can ride the hills smoothly and efficiently.  I’m not sure why I’ve been so scared of riding repeats up Cochrane hill…I loved this workout! 

Seattle Tips?

For any of my Seattle, Washington friends/readers/lurkers…I need your help!  I’m planning a few things for my trip down for Lake Stevens in a few weeks.  Perhaps you guys can help me with a few things:

• Can you recommend a great running store in the Seattle or Everett area?
• Any suggestions for a fantastic sushi restaurant around Seattle?  Proximity to downtown would be great, but not necessary. 
• I need a good massage therapist post race!  Anyone have any recommendations around either Everett or Seattle?

Please feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail.  Just hit the “Contact Me” button near the top.  Thanks so much for your help!!

Productivity!

Productivity and endurance training do not tend to go hand in hand.  Sure, you get a ton of workouts done, but sometimes other things tend to suffer!  Let me round out my week of activities first though.

This week was my biggest volume of training done this year to date.  Probably my biggest week of training ever!  This morning I was finishing the week off with some hill repeats and a swim.  Angie has moved my long run to the middle of the week so I’m not doing a long bike and a long run back to back.  I’m a huge fan of this, although I have to admit it feels a bit odd to be waking up to run hill repeats on a Sunday morning. 

I had meant to get started early but lying in bed and hitting the snooze button seemed just too tempting.  I made it downtown just after 9 am, dropped my gear off at the Y and got started.  I had 4 x 2:00 hill repeats on tap.  As I started in on my warm up I could tell that my legs had biked 120K yesterday.  They just didn’t seem to have a lot of…vroom vroom in them.  Oh well, this was only going to be a 45 minute run.  I could do that for sure, right?

The entire run was embarrassingly slow but I got it done.  After I finished running I checked out the upstairs portion of the Y where the weights were.  I was supposed to run through some post-run exercises after Wednesday’s long run, but I didn’t have enough time before I had to get to work.  I decided to run through them today – assorted lunges, squats and push-ups.  I also got some core work done too.  Then it was time to hit the pool for what was supposed to be a 2400m pull focused workout.

By this time I was tired…  It’s been a long week of workouts and my brain turned off and wasn’t really into the swim.  I made it through 1500m and called it a day.  It was getting close to noon and I was ready to move on to other things.

Not that I had anything really exciting planned, but let’s just say that with all of this working out my poor house has really been suffering.  Apparently it has been so long since I vacuumed that it took me quite some time to find the stair attachment for my vacuum cleaner.  Today I managed to run through all of my laundry, vacuumed, cleaned my carpets (thanks Finlay for making that a necessity!), and dusted my furniture.  You would think I was tapering and had all of this extra time on my hands!  In actuality, here’s what happened this week:

• Running – 17.1 mi, 2:58:35
• Biking – 114.8 mi, 6:59:46
• Swimming – 5800 m, 2:45:00
• Stretch, core and strength – 0:25:00
• GRAND TOTAL = 13:08:21

If everything goes as plan this week I may be setting a new record…  I’m starting the week off with a rest day tomorrow though!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Getting by with a little help from my friends…

This week may just be shaping up to be my biggest volume week of the year so far!  I’m in my final build towards the Lake Stevens 70.3.  I had my last 120K ride on tap for today.  The only thing was I didn’t have anyone to go the distance with!  The majority of my team is in Penticton for an Ironman Canada training camp.  I couldn’t go since I didn’t have the vacation time to spare for it, it has all been earmarked for other trips.  Those sticking around in town are racing the Calgary 70.3 next weekend, and who wants to ride 120K the weekend before a race?

After chatting to a couple of friends the perfect plan started to come into place.  My friends Tara and Joel would be up for 80K with me.  I looked on MapMyRide and it was about 20K from my place to Joel’s.  It would then be just under 80K from there to Bragg Creek and back.  Perfect!  This would give me company for a big chunk of the ride.  The other 40K on my own would be on roads I ride all the time and if I got into trouble it would be an easy call to a friend for help.  Let’s just say that last weekend’s chain incident had me worried!

The weather was slated to be awesome for today!  30C (86F) and sunny.  As I started getting ready I began to throw breakfast together.  It was then that I realized that I didn’t have any cereal left in the house!  Not a ton of options in the fridge, but thankfully had some yogurt and fruit to fill up on.  For this ride I was planning on trying something a bit different for nutrition and hydration.  Prior to Great White North I relied on Gu Chomps and Honey Stinger protein bars.  I wanted to toss around the possibility of just using liquids for nutrition on the bike.  Enter Infinit to the mix.  I ran through the questionnaire to come up with my own customized bike formula.  Protein, carbs, electrolytes…all specific to me!  Nutrition and hydration all in one.  I decided to wear a Camelbak…maybe not so cool (and really not effective if you want to get into aero), but it makes drinking a whole lot easier.  I mixed up about 2 hours worth of Infinit in the Camelbak, then mixed up another 2 hour bottle to carry with me, along with a bottle of plain water.  This way I could mix it up in the Camelbak halfway through my ride.

I set off at 7:30 from my place.  A few minutes later than I wanted to.  The route was pretty similar to what I normally ride when I bike into work.  Nice downhill the whole way.  The ride from Joel’s out to Bragg was interesting.  I didn’t exactly realize that it was uphill the whole way.  It must have been a false flat with a headwind.  I looked down at my Garmin at one point and I couldn’t believe it.  Heart rate in zone 4 on what I thought was a flat?  Wow…  We rode highway 8 out of town which is a pretty busy thoroughfare.  Luckily the shoulder is nice and wide the whole way.  Pretty popular for bikes despite the traffic.

We made it to Bragg with a mile or two left for my halfway point.  We rode the extra distance, then turned around for a quick pit stop at the Shell station in Bragg.  I refilled the Camelbak with my extra bottle of Infinit, diluted it down, and picked up a bottle of Coke just in case I needed it for the end of the ride.  So far the Infinit was working out really well.  It was sitting nicely in my stomach and the Camelbak was great for making sure I was drinking enough. 

The way back was awesome!  We were really booking it thanks to the slight downhill and a tail wind.  What took 1:34 going out took 1:16 coming back.  I dropped off Tara and Joel and started the last 20K going home.  This way would have some good uphills, and I wasn’t sure how they would go considering how long I had been riding for.  I got a little nervous approaching Home Road’s 11% grade.  How would it feel 67 miles into the ride?  Turns out, not a lot different than when I hit that hill on my commute home from work!  The rest of the ride went off without a hitch.  I barely felt like I’d even ridden that long of a distance…  I dropped my bike off at home, switched into running gear and took off on a quick brick run.  It was supposed to be a 30 minute run, but given the heat and that it was 1:00 I cut it slightly short. 

All in all it was a great ride.  I’m really happy with how the Infinit worked.  Surprisingly I never got any hungry stomach rumbles at all on the ride and I was out there for 4:39 today.  Good stuff!  Thanks Tara and Joel for keeping me company on the middle 80K of my ride!!

Which one are you?

So today I bit the bullet.
Jumped on the bandwagon as it were.

I called up the Apple store in town to find out if they had the iPhone I was interested in stock.  I went there straight from work to make sure I could get my hands on one of these fancy little units.
For the record, I am most definitely a PC, in many senses of the term.  Apart from being a bit of a technological geek where running gadgets are concerned that is about the extent of it.  It took me years to figure out how to text.  I only have a flat screen TV because a guy that I was dating wanted a new one so he gave his old flat screen to me.  I really didn’t see much point in a “smart phone.”  But today I was ready to bite the bullet.

The Apple store is an interesting place.  It has its own kind of subculture.  Everyone working there is wearing either cargo shorts or plaid shorts.  There are the folks wearing orange shirts that are kind of like a concierge.  Give them your name and get on a waiting list.  When your name moves to the top of the list an Apple shopping specialist wearing an aqua t-shirt will be introduced to you.  Then there are the folks wearing dark blue shirts who I never quite figured out who they were.  Personal shoppers to help with previously made appointments? 

As I sat around and waited for my own personal shopper my stomach was in knots.  Hopefully they really would have enough iPhones in the back so that I could get one.  I probably should have packed a snack…I didn’t realize it was going to be quite so busy!  An hour and a half after checking in I left the store with my snazzy new iPhone tucked safely in my purse.  Sweet!  Now I just have to figure out how to use it…
To bring things slightly back on topic…1-1/2 hour bike done on Thursday, 2300 m swim done today…120K ride on tap for tomorrow!  Have a great weekend all!

The Best Team Ever!

Seriously folks, there are some fantastic people on my tri team!  I love how supportive everyone is.  This will become apparent later in this post, and later this week!

Tuesday Night Group Cycle – Bike/Run Repeats
We were out in Cochrane for bike/run repeats last night.  The premise is pretty simple.  Haul ass on the bike on a little 4 mile out and back.  Drop your bike, get your run shoes on and do a super speedy 1K run.  Take a minute or two to get your bike shoes back on and repeat.  Fun stuff!

My teammate James knew all about my chain debacle thanks to the wonders of Facebook.  He was super surprised that my LBS didn’t think that I needed to replace my chain after it snapped.  So even though I told him I thought I was in okay shape he brought out a spare chain, a measuring tape, some tools and a bike stand.  On repeat number two I heard my chain creaking.  It had creaked on hill repeats last week but I chalked it up to my chain probably needing a clean and a lube.  After the repeat was done James grabbed his tape measure and sure enough, my chain had stretched at least 1/8”.  Given that I’m hitting my final push to Lake Stevens (and racing really soon!) I knew I couldn’t ride with this anymore.  He swapped my chain out for me – what a great teammate!!  Thanks James!

I only made it through three repeats thanks to the impromptu bike mechanical incident, but it was such a good workout!

Wednesday Long Run – How About Some Intervals?
I had an 1:30 long run on tap for today.  It included 2 x 15 minute intervals at around my 10K pace.  I just set Garmin up to beep me if I strayed outside of a tempo pace.  Good enough I figured!

I set my alarm for 4:30 am.  I figured I’d drive downtown, run around the river, then shower and get ready for work at the Y.  When my alarm went off I was so disoriented.  What day was it?  Why was I getting up so early?  Was it to bike?  Swim?  Oh right…to run!  Given that I was starting out pretty early I decided to run the same loop around downtown, over and over.  Okay, well only three times.  Some parts get a bit sketchy as you get towards the outskirts of downtown so I was trying to avoid that.  I had a 20 minute warm up run, then started in on the first interval.  A few minutes in I looked down at my watch and it said that my pace was “Steady State.”  What?  How come Garmin isn’t yelling at me?  I picked it up and finally it clicked into “Tempo.”  I guess the legs were a bit tired from yesterday’s bike workout because I was a few seconds off from my 10K pace, but close enough!  When it came time for the second repeat I had a hard time picking the legs up and getting my pace down.  This time Garmin was yelling at me…all the time..!  Finally, I got there!  An hour and a half, done!  It felt great to get the run done before work, before it got too hot!  That gave me this evening to relax and fire up the BBQ to grill up a little fresh Sockeye salmon.  Terrific!!

Anniversaries

My cell phone contract expired on Sunday.  I went into my existing cellular company to see what offers they might have for me in order to keep my business (none) and also stopped into the Apple store to play around with the new iPhone.  Me being the genius that I am I finally remembered that on Saturday it was officially three years since I moved to Calgary.  Growing up I moved around A LOT and there weren’t very many places that I lived in past the three year mark.  Somehow or other three years in one place feels like a big milestone for me.  The only other spots that have made the milestone?
- Bogota, Colombia (3 years, 3 months…I think…)
- London, England (5 years, 2 months…or so…)
- Vancouver, British Columbia (6 years, minus a few months for a work stint in Rocky Mountain House, AB and Houston, TX)
Aside from the obvious that I am now free to sign a new 3 year cell phone contract and that my 3 year financing term is 6 days away from being complete this time of year seems to play host to a lot of various anniversaries.

- 8 years of being out of university, working in the industry.  Hard to believe I have been out of school for that long!
- 6 years ago my brother and sister-in-law got married!
- 6 years since the Okanagan Mountain Park fire.  It never directly threatened my parents thankfully.  Unfortunately there is another scary fire at the moment…
- 3 years ago we lost my Aunt Mary to lung cancer.  She was also my godmother.  In many ways she was the social butterfly of my mom’s side of the family.  She was always the one to make sure family was together for various holidays.  When I was in second year in university my parents were overseas, but I was still living in the family home, commuting an hour and a half each way to school (it is normally a 30-40 minute drive, rush hour is just that bad in Vancouver).  The long commute…the living far away from my classmates in an empty house…and second year being one of the toughest years in engineering all made for tough times.  She was always there for me, ready to chat or to feed me a home cooked meal.  I miss her a lot.  Here’s me, my mom, my Aunt Marjut (my dad’s sister and my other godmother) and my Aunt Mary the day I graduated from The University of British Columbia.

Sunday’s Highwood Pass Ride

Back in June a few of us had planned on riding Highwood Pass in Kananaskis one weekend.  Apparently this ride is amazing – big climbs and terrific scenery.  The road is closed over the winter and we were hoping to ride it before it opened to traffic.  Sadly we were going to ride it on the day that it wound up alternating snow, hail, rain and sun.  On my schedule for this weekend was a hilly 100K route.  No easy riding allowed.  So when it came time to consult my riding buddies Pam and Tara I proposed Highwood Pass for our ride this weekend.

We met up at my place early on Sunday morning and drove out to Kananaskis together.  As we passed a few trails on the way in I noticed they were closed off due to bears in the area.  Gulp!!  We parked at the village, hit the bathrooms and got ready to go.

The ride is essentially an out and back along Highway 40.  There are no services along the way until Highwood House (where there is a gas station), then turn around and come back.

It was an amazing day – nice and warm and a clear blue sky.  I tried to take the time to look up and appreciate the amazing scenery.  I wasn’t sure what to expect for hills or climbs but I was feeling pretty good on the uphills.  I kept scanning the ditches on the side of the highway looking for animals (okay, specifically bears).  We were trying to keep together as much as possible just in case we did sight one.
  I was pedalling along and all of a sudden I dropped my chain.  I had enough momentum going that stopping wasn’t an issue and I hollered at Pam as I put the breaks on.  As I stopped my bike I looked down and then looked back.  My chain was lying on the shoulder of the highway behind me.
Oh so disappointing!  We were just over 13 miles into the ride…less than an hour.  None of us were carrying the handy dandy chain repair tool.  Thankfully there were three of us, so Pam rode back to get her car and Tara stuck with me and we started walking back towards Kananaskis together.  I was happy she kept me company in case we saw any bears.  She didn’t want to leave a girl on her own on the side of the highway.  I guess we all have our own perspectives on what to be worried about!  A couple of cyclists stopped to help, but no one had the tool or was able to rig the chain back together. 

I’m hoping the 2.5 miles or so that Tara and I walked (in our bike shoes) was enough to count for a brick that day!  Note to self though, walking that long in bike shoes makes for exceedingly tight calves the next day…ouch!

Words for the Week

There are two words that can describe my workouts for this week:

Fish

Wow, did I get some swim workouts in this week!  Swim #1 was Monday, 2000m of a mixed swim set.  Swim #2 on Wednesday, a 2100m swim test.  I also got in swim #3 for 2000m on Friday.  It was an interval swim, and I used the numbers I got from Wednesday’s test for my interval times.  Swim #4 was on Saturday, a fun pull focused workout.  I’m really enjoying swimming on my own at the downtown Y as I logged 8300m for the week.

Hills

There was a whole lot of up and down going on this week.  Let’s review, shall we?

Tuesday: Hill repeats on the bike at Edworthy.  1779 ft of climbing.
Wednesday: Bike ride from the car dealership home, 762 ft of climbing.
Thursday: Downhill 2:00 run into work.  -968 ft.
Saturday: 1:00 hill run downtown.  741 ft of climbing.
Sunday: 100K hilly ride on tap.  This ride is so special that it gets it own post!

Saturday’s run was a good one!  One hour of as much up and down as possible.  I wasn’t feeling too inspired for a hilly route, but thanks to my friends on Facebook the suggestions came pouring in.  Since I was planning on swimming the winner was a route around downtown.  I started at the Y, ran up Center Street Bridge, up and down McHugh Bluff a few times and back.  It wasn’t a fast paced run at all, but I knew I worked my legs hard.  After running in the heat and humidity it felt great to jump in the pool for my 2000m pull focused workout!

In other news, I finally tested my BBQ out for the first time tonight!  I grilled up some delicious sausages I picked up from the Calgary Farmers’ Market, along with some fresh veggies.  This BBQ works so much better than my old one!  This is the first time I haven’t completely overcooked sausages on the grill before.  Yay!

To Infinit-y and Beyond..??

The alarm went off at 4:30 am and it was time to get the show on the road for part two of my attempt to fit my long workouts in during the week.  Except I accidentally turned alarm #2 off before dozing off and waking up again at 4:50.  Oops!  I jumped out of bed, put the running gear on, Body Glided, took Finlay for a walk and grabbed my stuff.  I downed a gel just before starting on the road at 5:20 am.  The sun was already on its way up so it wasn’t even that dark out.

I had a two hour run on the schedule and since it is pretty well downhill the entire way I much prefer the run into work, as opposed to the uphill run home.  The streets were pretty quiet and the temperature was super comfortable out.  I was going along at a half decent clip too!

I wore a Camelbak and drank some Infinit Run for the first time.  Not sure which run formulation it is, but it comes in the 6 pack trial.  It was a lemon-lime flavour and I really enjoyed it.  Not too obtrusive of a flavour, something I could easily down on a regular basis and not get sick of the taste.  As I was getting towards the tail end of my run I was running the pathway along the Bow River, just past Edworthy park and all of a sudden I heard my name!  It was my friend Debbie, saying hi and shouting encouragement at me.  It was a good boost!  Near the end my legs got a bit tired, but I finished the run up in good shape.  Door to door…2 hours!  Perfect!

I ran upstairs, grabbed my gym bag, and quickly mixed up the Infinite Recovery shake and headed off to the Y to shower and change.  Within about three minutes of the recovery shake hitting my stomach it let me know in no uncertain terms that it was not a fan!  The taste was okay, it just wasn’t sitting well at all.  I somehow or other drank 1/3 of it, and then finally said no more.  Oh well, some things work great for people, other things don’t.  This is the first thing I’ve tried that does not sit well in my stomach.  Guess I’ll be sticking to good ol’ chocolate milk for my recovery drink!

Alright, must start getting ready for bed because it will be my third really early morning in a row.  Did I mention that Friday is not a rest day?? :)

Busy, Busy!

Busy day today! First off I had a swim on the schedule. I opted to head out very early to swim at the Y downtown instead of the one closer to my house. This way I avoided the traffic, and the downtown Y has a lot more lanes set up for swimming so I definitely prefer it. Today’s workout was an interesting one, called a base determiner swim. First I swam 1000m, 800m of which was all with paddles and a pull buoy that gave my shoulders a workout. After that it was on to the test portion of the swim – 10 x 100m. I had to time each 100m interval and average the time. I’ll be using that average time for intervals on future workouts. 

Do you ever look at your workout schedule and go, “wow, I wonder how I’m going to fit everything in??” That was kind of me when I looked at this coming week. Not only was there a swim for today, but I also had a 1.5-2 hour ride today. And tomorrow is a 2 hour long run. Huh?? Well, I figured out a good way to fit these in this week. I also needed to get my car serviced… This evening I drove down to drop my car off at the dealership and packed my bike along for the ride. i thought the ride home would be 1.5 hours…but I was a little off!! Riding through downtown was a bit of a slow go as I hit just about every light possible. Once I got on the pathway out of downtown things picked up. I hunkered down, spun, and got a move one! Pretty soon it was off the pathway and on to residential streets for the uphill portion home. I spun my tired legs up the hills and I couldn’t believe how good I felt! Imagine my surprise when I got home in 1:06. I guess I was a little off on my estimate!! 

Alright, it was an early morning today, and it will be another early one tomorrow. Have a great night all!!

Letting Go

Tonight we had hills at Edworthy on the schedule for our Tuesday night group ride.  Oddly enough, in some weird, glutton for punishment kind of way I was really looking forward to it.  So why were my legs not ready to ride tonight?  After all, I didn’t keep up with my scheduled workouts last week.  I mostly relaxed, drank beer and ate pancakes.  As I rode towards the hill I kept looking down to check and make sure I wasn’t in my big chain ring.  Nope.  Tires fully inflated?  Yep.  No excuses, my legs were just not there.

On one repeat Angie saw me and asked what was wrong since I didn’t look like my usual smiley self.  I told her that my legs just didn’t have it today and I didn’t know why.  She reminded me that I did just race a half Iron last weekend and fatigue would still be normal.  Once I said the words aloud to Angie I was able to let go.  Sure, I was tired…but these were hills and they aren’t supposed to be easy, right?  But they certainly are good for me!  The next time Angie saw me she yelled that my whole demeanour had changed.  I was attacking those hills!  Was I faster?  Not really.  But my mind was in a happy place!  Pretty important to find that for hilly Lake Stevens 70.3, eh?  Afterwards I had a good 20 minute brick run.  Now?  Time for bed!

Getting back at it…

I had my week of reduced workouts…Stampede is over and done with…and my cowboy boots are being packed away for another year (for which my feet are surely thankful for after Friday night…I have a wicked blister).  It is time to build for Lake Stevens!

In theory today was a rest day, but because I missed my weekend swim I decided I would make it up today.  Well…truth be told I very nearly bailed on it.  We had a wicked rain storm roll through town in the afternoon.  38.3 mm of rainfall (1.5”).  It is about 3/4 of a mile from my office to the Y and the thought of walking outside in the rain had me ready to just head home instead.  Then I wizened up and realized that I could walk inside nearly the whole way through the +15 system.  No excuses, time to go swim!

And it was a good swim, so I’m really glad that I went.  I felt smooth and efficient at the water.  After a warm up I had a drill set, a moderately paced 3 x 100 set, a sprint 3 x 100 set and a 2 x 200 pull set.  My sprint wasn’t a huge success, but that’s okay!  My lane was a bit crowded so I just did the best I could.  When I left the Y the rain was gone for a nice walk back to my car.  Well, it was nice until I realized that my stomach was upset.  Maybe a little bit of sea sickness from the swim?  I couldn’t stomach the thought of grilling up shrimp for dinner so it was back to the dinner for champions…another peanut butter sandwich.  With some fresh fruit on the side.  Hopefully I’ll have a chance to break in my new grill soon, but the next few nights promise to be busy…  We’ll see what happens!

Where did the week go?

Wow…where has the time gone?  I can’t believe the weekend is almost over.  This week was somewhat of a fail on getting workouts done…  I know, I just raced a half Iron last weekend, and even though I was recovering that didn’t mean that I would get the whole week off.  Here is the breakdown:
- Cycling: 2 rides scheduled for a total of 3 hours.  I rode once for just over 2.5 hours.
- Running: 2 runs scheduled for a total of 1:45 hours.  I ran twice…for a total of 50 minutes.
- Swimming: 2 swims for 1:30, but I only swam once.
So what have I been doing if it wasn’t really working out?

Friday was rodeo day at the Calgary Stampede!  I caught the afternoon show with barrel racing, bronco riding, bull riding and a few other fun activities. Once the rodeo was over we went to check out the food available at the midway.  Warm beef sundae anyone?  (No, I didn’t eat it, I just took a picture of someone random stranger’s.  I swear I wasn’t the only one to do that!)

How about some pizza on a stick?
A guy gave me a $10 food voucher which I put towards some deep fried Oreos…
After we were done damaging our arteries it was on to an event offsite event at Fort Calgary – Glass Tiger and Tom Cochrane with Red Rider!!!  This was a super fun event.  Sleeman is the sponsor here (as opposed to Budweiser who sponsors the Stampede) so the beverages are better…  Plus your ticket includes a dinner of beef on a bun, baked beans, coleslaw and a fruit cup.  Tom Cochrane was fantastic and was a really fun night. 
Saturday was a busy day of errands.  Off to the hairdresser, then a quick drive to Balzac to stop in at Bass Pro Shops to pick up a birthday present for my brother.  As my hairdresser put it, they did a good job keeping a taxidermist in business with that store! 
I was supposed to have a long run of an hour that afternoon, but when I got home I was bagged.  A nap in front of the Tour sounded like a much better idea. 

Sunday Pam and I rode a portion of the Calgary 70.3 bike route.  We basically rode the Grand Valley – Horse Creek loop portion.  The weather was terrific and it was a fun ride.  We capped the ride off with a 20 minute brick and a trip to MacKay’s for some ice cream!  I tried Infinit for the first time on the bike today.  I had brought one bottle of Infinit and some gel to round out my nutrition for the rest of the ride.  I only drank my one bottle of Infinit, so I definitely didn’t take enough in on the bike.  It made for a fairly painful brick run…  Lesson learned that I need more on a 2.5 hour ride.

In the afternoon I went out grocery shopping…and came home with a BBQ!  I’ve been thinking about upgrading to a larger BBQ (I have an itty bitty Patio Caddie at the moment).  I thought I found a good deal at Superstore, but opted to check Home Depot out before I committed, and found a really good deal there.  But it was 6 pm and the sale ended at 8 pm…and they didn’t have the one I wanted in stock.  Cue the running around to another Home Depot to locate my dream BBQ.  I lucked out, somehow managed to get it into my front yard (?) and spent the rest of the evening assembling it.  Isn’t it beautiful?
As soon as the BBQ was together I went inside and made myself a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and sat down in front of the Tour.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!  Be sure to check out Marlene’s giveaway!!

Thursday Stampede Induced Thoughts

• It is Stampede time here in Calgary!  This is where a large number of Calgarians pull out any cowboy apparel they own.  For me that basically means jeans, a t-shirt and some cowboy boots that I picked up four years ago for $28 at an Aldo outlet in Texas.  Authentic, eh?
• Stampede also means a plethora of pancake breakfasts around downtown.  My first breakfast was Tuesday morning.  Maybe not as impressive on the food front compared to others, but I rather enjoyed the champagne and orange juice…
• Tuesday we did have a recovery group ride out in Cochrane.  We’ve had some crazy, very non-July like weather and it looked like it was going to pour as I was getting ready to leave work.  When a co-worker mentioned that a few folks were going for drinks it didn’t take me very long to decide that a beverage would be more ideal than a ride.
• Of course it was ridiculously sunny out when I left the pub Tuesday night.
• On Wednesday it was time to get my legs moving again.  I went out for a super easy 3 mile run over lunch.  It started off easy (sort of), although it took a good 20 minutes for my legs to not feel heavy. My legs picked the right time to come around because a few minutes later it started to rain.  Big, fat drops of rain.  That made for a sprint kick back to the office!
• Today it was back in the pool for a good workout.  My swim volume is going to pick up with a good focus on building strength.  I had a reasonably short 1600m workout using a pull buoy and paddles.  First time using paddles and it really made for good workout.
• After three days of pancakes I think I may have had enough pancakes for a year.  Well…at least a month.
• For lunch today our social club at work held a Stampede lunch.  It was a good excuse to hang out with some co-workers outside of the office and we chowed down on beef on a bun, chicken legs, baked beans and some salads.  I apologize for the poor quality of the picture, but we may be able to attribute that to one of the other items in the picture.
• Friday promises to be a fun day…  Stay tuned!  I hope everyone has a great weekend!!
• And yes…I know this is just one big nutritional blow up…  Thank goodness Stampede isn’t very long…  And I promise that I don’t eat like this every day!

Great White North – Race Photos

I have been so overwhelmed you guys.  Thank you so much for all of your support and wonderful comments about my race, both before and after.  I feel very fortunate to have some amazing blog readers who have become great friends.  I may or may not get to meet you at some time, but I really appreciate you guys!  From the comments on my posts to those on Facebook, you guys absolutely rock.  Thank you!!  Also a huge thanks to my family, friends and AMAZING teammates as well.  I couldn’t imagine being on this journey without you!

My wonderful teammate Caroline was cheering us on at Great White North this weekend and took some fantastic photos of us.  I’m sad she wasn’t able to race with us, but her support and enthusiasm was such a huge boost on Sunday.  Next year Caroline, we’ll get to race together!  Here are some pictures that she grabbed race day:     

After the Race…

Once I crossed the finish line a few friends found me right away but I was still hyperventilating and needed to catch my breath.  Finally after a minute or two things were back under control.  I grabbed some water but I was full and couldn’t handle the thought of any food so I ran off to find friends and congratulate everyone.  I finally remembered that I also had a massage that I had to take advantage of.  I hobbled into the gym where the massage tables were set up and got in line.  I wasn’t sore at all but I figured this would help flush the legs a bit, plus the knots in my shoulders were still really bothering me.  I was covered in sweat, grime and salt so I felt bad for the guy giving me a massage, but it was just what my legs needed.  After that Pam and I went back to get my car from T1, then drove back to T2 to pick up our bikes.  After cleaning up it was off to the awards banquet dinner – burgers!  The food was tasty (and there was beer), but I think Friday’s dinner was a bit better.
Team Tri Life had some amazing performances out there, including my fantastic coach Angie who won her age group!  She’s having an amazing year as she got her Clearwater spot at Oceanside earlier this year.  It is great working with her and she is a huge inspiration!!

Other thoughts with regards to the race…it is so well organized!  From the dinners, to the well stocked aid stations, to the super enthusiastic volunteers…it is hard to ask for a better event.  I understand why this race sells out so quickly.

Other lessons I learned?

• My nutrition strategy worked well – the peanut butter sandwich, banana, Chomps and gels.  No stomach problems on the race whatsoever!
• SPF 30?  Not enough for me!  I still have some sunburned bits on my cheeks and shoulder blades.  I also realized on the run as I unzipped my tri top that I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my chest.  Oops…
• Next time I’ll be staying in Stony instead of Edmonton.  I thought I’d want to be closer to the city but it turns out that I wanted to be closer to the action.
• Having company on the drive was great.  Thanks Pam!  It went by quickly and it was great to get tips on the race from her.
• Having people you know out on the race is an immeasurable benefit.  Seeing my teammates and friends was such a huge boost.  One of the things I thought about on the bike is how I’m off to race the Lake Stevens 70.3 on my own.  The majority of my teammates are either racing the Calgary 70.3 or Ironman Canada.  So I’m hoping I can convince my parents to come cheer me on at LS..!

Great White North – Race Report

Before the race…

I didn’t really get a lot of sleep the night before the race.  5 hours to be exact!  I was tired when I was eating dinner, but after getting all my gear together I was wired!!  Because T1 and T2 were in two different locations there was a whole lot of sorting out that was required.  I crawled into bed and turned the lights off at 11:00.  And then I was up at 4:00.  On purpose.  I jumped out of bed as soon as my alarm went off, showered, got dressed and loaded up the car.  Then it was on to Tim Hortons to grab some coffee and pick Pam up in Stony Plain.  We then got to T1 at Hubbles Lake just as soon as it opened at 5:45 am.
We had plenty of time to get set up in transition.  Some folks had dropped their bikes off the night before and it was eerily quiet.  All of our spots in transition were assigned so there were no worries about rushing to jockey for the best spot.  I was happy with where I was located though, on the far row, close to the transition exit.  We were given two bags – one to check at T1 with all the gear we would need for our run, and one that we would leave at T1 where volunteers would pack up all our swim stuff and leave in T2.
As for pre-race nutrition strategy…I really thought about this since I had stomach problems at Wasa.  I ate a peanut butter and jam sandwich pretty well as soon as I got into transition, about 2 hours before the race.  There was a handy dandy countdown clock in transition that helped me time the rest of my nutrition.  An hour and a half before race start I ate a banana.  Then about 20 minutes before race start I ate a gel.

Once my transition spot was set up I found teammates and friends (like Susi and Julie), then realized that the porta-potty line was getting long so I jumped in at the end.  It took awhile to make it through the line and all of a sudden I had about half an hour to race start and I needed to get into my wetsuit.  Once it was on I rushed into the water, got in a couple of quick strokes to check that my goggles weren’t leaking, then it was back on the beach and Oh Canada was sung.  This was real…I was about to race my first half Iron!

The swim…

Goal: To have a fun and happy swim!
I lined up near the back of the pack and on the far left.  We would swim two clockwise 1000m laps – 400m out to buoy #1, 200m across to buoy #2, then 400m back to the beach.  Repeat!  I got a little of course to the first buoy but I was in a happy place.  Very minimal contact and I was feeling really relaxed on the swim.  Things got a little crowded at the buoys, but no big deal.  As I swam back toward the beach I started feeling like I had to pee again.  Hmm.  I hit the beach and ran around the buoys on the beach and got back into the water.  The spectators cheering were amazing!  Back into the water…  As I swam toward the first buoy again I knew I needed to figure out this out.  I stopped kicking and just concentrated…and success!  Ah…relief…  Towards buoy #2 I wound up going pretty well neck and neck with another guy..still in my happy place!  I knew I had met my goal of having a fun swim…none of those, “what the heck am I doing” thoughts like I have had in my last two open water swim races.

2000 metres: 47:05
Overall 555 out of 672
Females 30-39 80 out of 94

T1…

When I got to my bike I snuck a peak at my Garmin and it was showing that my heart rate was in zone 5.  I took my time getting ready to give my heart rate a chance to settle down.  Socks and shoes, Garmin, sunglasses and helmet all on.  Bike off the rack and out of T1.  My swim gear tossed on top of my plastic bag.

2:32 (back calculated from my bike time as transition times weren’t measured)

The bike…

Goal: To race a strong race on the bike.  Icing on the cake would be coming in under 3 hours.
Ah the bike.  My favourite!  I had loaded my bike up with two bottles of nuun, one bag of Gu Chomps (180 calories) and a 5 serving flask of espresso Hammer Gel (450 calories).  The bike course is quite a bit flatter than what I am used to riding around Calgary.  Coming out towards the back of the pack from the water means that I have some passing to do on the bike.  I was very keen to ride my own race, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of energy passing people.  Drafting officials were out in full effect on the bike course and I was pretty paranoid about that, so passing it was!  There were a few points in time when someone would pass me, then settle in and slow down, so I’d have to pass them…and this back and forth would keep going on. 
Once we turned south on 770 things got a bit more interesting as we hit some rolling hills that helped to separate people out a bit more.  This was also where I first started to see people coming back towards me from the out and back.

Like it or not I was going to be racing the bike without bike gloves.  I’ve done without them on my shorter races this year, but was sitting on the fence for this longer ride.  Well, I either lost a glove on my way to Stony or left it behind in Calgary, so no gloves on the bike for me!

There were plenty of aid stations on the bike.  Each one had water, Gatorade and bananas.  Even though I was carrying nuun on my bike I picked up water and Gatorade from time to time.  They were filled in open top bottles meant for you to either dump in your aero bottle (which I don’t have), or you swig it and toss the bottle right away.  I sipped my nuun on other occasions when I needed it.  I didn’t pick up any bananas and I ate my Chomps first, then moved on to the gel flask.  I thought I would want a bit of solid nutrition, but I made sure to eat it early.  Chewing and riding is tough though…why is it always hard to breathe and why does it always make my nose run?

Coming down Heartbreak Hill was so much fun…but then after the downhill there was a big uphill.  It took momentum away but I really enjoyed the climb up!  From there it was a bit further to the turnaround point…then back we go!  When I turned around I realized that we had been blessed with a tail wind on the way out.  Sigh…

Going up Heartbreak Hill was interesting.  There was a group of riders slightly farther ahead.  Three vehicles were looking to pass the cyclists but couldn’t give them enough room to pass so they were crawling along.  One rider zoomed on past the group of riders and as soon as he was in front of the cars he pulled in front of them to keep passing bikes.  Seriously!  Why would you pull in front of a car like that??

On the way back I started to enter the “bite me” zone a bit on the bike.  I was pedalling and trying to keep my cadence high but the wind was keeping me from riding as quickly as I would have liked.  I didn’t want to push so hard through this wind and then have nothing left for the run.  Plus I was starting to tense up in my shoulders and my sit bones were hurting…  I knew I needed to keep going and keep a positive attitude so I just focused on riding my best ride.

At one point just up ahead there was a group of three people who somehow managed to get kind of bunched up.  It didn’t seem like anyone was making a move to pass and they were most definitely in the draft zone.  Where is a draft official when you need one?  A few minutes later I heard a motorcycle behind me.  They moved up to the group of three and pointed at two of them…most likely getting penalties.  If you got sighted for drafting it was noted in the results.  Your number was radioed into T2 and after you racked your bike but before you left on your run you had to run a lap of shame.

I just buckled down to get few miles over with and stretched my legs out and tried to ignore my poor sore sit bones.  Then there I was…nearly at T2 and about to make my best case scenario goal time.

90K: 2:58:43 (according to Garmin)
90K + transitions: 3:02:37
Overall 384 out of 672
Females 30-39 49 out of 94

T2…

As soon as I ran across the mount line volunteers are there asking for your number.  As soon as the last race participant leaves T1 all of the bike racks and gear are packed up and moved to T2.  Since you don’t know where your stuff is the very helpful volunteers are pointing you in the right direction to rack your back and your gear bag that you checked earlier in the morning is there waiting for you.  The girl helping me find my stuff told me not to worry, that as soon as I was out on my run she would organize all of my gear for me.  Thanks!  Helmet swapped out for hat, bike shoes swapped out for sneakers, three Gus in my jersey pocket and I was ready to go!!!

1:21 (according to Garmin)

The run…

Goal: To run my best race possible, whatever happened would happen and time was somewhat irrelevant.  Best case scenario would be beating my first half marathon time from the Calgary 2007 half marathon, 2:21, but I would be satisfied regardless.
I tried so hard to start out slow on the run.  I thought I was taking it easy but my pace was a bit fast.  I figured that as long as I was keeping my heart race in zone 3 I would just go with it and made peace with the fact that I would slow down over the course of the run.

The run course is interesting.  It is an out and back, but it has a couple of loops so it gives you plenty of opportunity to see folks.  Since Team Tri Life had so many folks racing this was a great chance to see everyone and cheer each other on.  Seeing my friends racing and seeing those who weren’t racing but were there to cheer us on was such a huge boost for me.  For the most part the run was also on nice quiet run pathways.

Even though I was carrying three Gus with me I figured I would use the aid stations as a bit of an opportunity to pick up some Hammer Gels along with way.  Each aid station was stocked with water, Gatorade, flat cola, cookies, orange slices and Hammer Gels.  I didn’t carry any fluids with me on the run and I alternated between grabbing water and Gatorade on the way out. 

As we approached the turn around the strong sun and heat started to get to me.  I was definitely slowing down.  Somehow the wind I felt on the bike was nowhere to be found on the run.  Funny, eh?  I walked through the aid station somewhere around 7 miles and took my second gel on the run, then figured I should wash it down with some water…and hmm, some Gatorade sounded good.  And so did some flat Coke!  As I ran away from the aid station I realized that I had just put a lot of stuff in my stomach at once!  It sat okay, but after that I was afraid to put more gel in there as I was worried it would lock up.  So from there on out I continued with Coke or Gatorade.  My stomach actually never complained on the race at all so my nutrition strategy was working pretty well!

I tried to encourage as many people as possible on the run, even though I was fading.  I went into that same zone that I have entered on all of my marathons.  Your brain is ready to be done, you aren’t moving fast, but your body just keeps moving.  When I had 5K left to go I just wanted to get this race over and done with.  As I moved into the final mile I started to get choked up.  I was so close and I was on pace to meet my super duper best case scenario!  However crying in races very swiftly turns into hyperventilating so I told myself to save it for the finish line.  All of a sudden I was near the end…my teammates were cheering me on..!!  Just turn the corner and there is the finish line!  I was neck and neck with two other guys and dug down for a sprint to the finish.  One guy realized what was up and did not want to get passed.  He edged me out by 2 seconds, and I just edged the other fellow out.  Nothing like a sprint finish to the end of a half Iron distance tri!!  As soon as I crossed the line I started hyperventilating.  I tried to hold it together as Wade, the race director, placed my very cool medal around my neck.  I was done!!!

Half Marathon: 2:15:05
Overall 438 our of 672
Females 30 to 39 57 out of 94

Stay tuned for after the race and lessons learned!!

Final finishing time: 6:04:46
Overall 422 out of 672
Females 30 to 39 58 out of 94

Great White North – I finished!!

Sorry folks, I am just a bit too tired to write up a full race report for you guys at the moment… But suffice it to say, I had an amazing day today! I met all of my race goals and had a fantastic time on the race course:

Swim (2000m): 47:05
Bike (90K including transitions): 3:02:37
Run: 2:15:05
FINAL: 6:04:46

Here’s me and my amazing coach Angie who came in first in her age group!

Great White North – Pre-Race Activities

Friday

Yesterday afternoon my friend Pam and I hit the road to Stony Plain.  Stony Plain is about 20 minutes west of Edmonton (which is about 3 hours north of Calgary).  Having company on the drive was great and it went by really quickly.  The lake we are racing in tomorrow wasn’t open for swimming yet, so we met up with a few teammates for a swim at the Spring Lake RV park.  As we were checking in at the front office this sign greeted us:
Swimmer’s itch?  I’ve never heard of it, but you can bet it is something I probably don’t want, especially right before a race!  Four of us suited up and braved the water anyway.  It wasn’t a super swim…there were some big weeds right near the water edge that had me freaking out a bit as I was trying to swim.  I looked at it as a chance to get my open water spaz out of the way.  I then spent a very worthwhile $2 to take a shower at the campground to lessen my chance of swimmer’s itch.

With a short swim out of the way Pam and I took off to grab our race packets and show up for the carbo load dinner and pre-race meeting.  The carbo-load dinner is included in your race registration at it was one amazing feast!  PLUS…there was even beer available!  Since the race wasn’t until Sunday Pam and I figured that it would be perfectly acceptable to have a beer with dinner:
For dinner there were salads (greens with raspberry vinaigrette, coleslaw and pasta salad), pickles, baked beans, baked potato and your choice of steak or grilled chicken.  There were also pies, fruit crisp and fresh melon available for dessert.
The cola beverage was also going flat in preparation for Sunday’s race:
After dinner I headed off to West Edmonton to check in and get a good night’s rest in preparation for Saturday.

Saturday

I was up way before my alarm and after I could ignore the stomach rumbling no longer I headed out in search of a Starbucks or Tim Hortons.  The streets around my hotel are crazy and non-intuitive one way streets so this exercise took a lot longer than it should have.  And a total shocker…Starbucks was not open at 7 am!!  Luckily the Tim’s I found is a 24 hour drive through so I’ll be able to stop by for some caffeine early tomorrow morning.

I took off to Stony Plain to pick up Pam, then we were off to Hubbles Lake (where we will be swimming tomorrow) for a little pre-race workout with our team.  We all struggled and helped each other into our wetsuits:
We swam out to the first buoy and back (about 400m each way).  I had a terrific swim.  My sighting was great but I felt so comfortable in the water.  If I can replicate that feeling tomorrow in the race I’ll be a happy camper!  After one out and back we lined up on the beach for our own little mass start.  We had at least 20 athletes out there, so we were able to have a really good sized pack take off.  It really helped to work a few nerves out and solidify my race day strategy.

Since we are lucky enough to have wetsuit strippers at the race Angie even set up a little stripping zone so we can roll through that efficiently.  After that it was time to practice mounting the bike and climbing the hill out of transition.  Angie and Richelle taught us how to steer our bike by holding the seat instead of the handlebars.  If you run with your bike holding the handlebars you run the risk of tripping over your pedals on your way out of transition.  It took a bit of practice to get the hang of pushing my bike in a straight line, but it worked out pretty well.

After that it was time for a super short run and that was it!  A great way to spend the day before the race to help go over little details and calm some nerves.  I discussed race plan and nutrition strategies with Angie and that was it!  I then took off to drive a portion of the bike course.

The bike course is pretty flat…
…and there is really only one point that I was interested in seeing ahead of time…”Heartbreak Hill” just before the bike turnaround:
After my tour it was back to Edmonton!  It was a pretty relaxing afternoon of lunch at Olive Garden, then staying off my feet by taking in an afternoon screening of The Proposal.  It was a definite chick flick, but it was so funny, and it helped take my mind off of what is happening tomorrow!  I was hoping for some sushi for dinner but the restaurant I had sussed out didn’t seem to exist anymore.  It was getting kind of late so I stopped in at Wok Box to give it a try.  I picked up a Mongolian chicken stir fry with loads of veggies and rice that was really tasty.
Now the gear is packed and sorted (especially key since T1 and T2 are in two different places) and I am pretty well ready to go.  Thanks so much for all of your well wishes for my race.  I will be thinking about all of you and your encouraging statements on my race tomorrow!!

My Canada Day

Tuesday evening I checked the weather out my front door.  It was sunny and hot.  I left for our group ride in shorts and a short sleeve jersey.  As I drove towards Cochrane I noticed that I was driving towards storm clouds.  And the wind was picking up…  Angie gave us our workout – 3 x 8 min intervals with 8 min of rest in between.  As I started riding I felt like I was going nowhere and this was supposed to be the warm up?  The wind was intense and it was really cooling off.  A group of super strong cyclists up ahead of me pulled off the road and we all debated whether we should be riding in this or not.  We decided to keep going for a bit but it wasn’t long before we turned around and called it a day.  What took 7 minutes riding out in, took 4 minutes to come back in.  That is how much of a difference the wind was playing.  The wind was gusting up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and the temperature had dropped 6C (11F) within an hour.  That just doesn’t make for a fun ride…

Since I had Wednesday off of work to celebrate Canada Day I figured I would make up my bike workout Wednesday morning.  Angie wanted us to cut the workout a bit short since we were that much closer to Great White North.  I went out for a 45 minute ride with 4 x 4 min intervals.  The intervals went really well on the way out, but once I turned around I was riding back into the wind.  Not nearly as strong as yesterday…but I just rode the hills hard and didn’t concentrate on the intervals that much.  After I dropped my bike off back at home I went out for a quick brick run.  I felt good on the run but didn’t have a ton of speed.  Oh well!

I had planned on going to the pool later but I much preferred doing a few things around the house and relaxing.  Pretty soon it was time to head to my brother and sister-in-law’s place for some Canada Day BBQ.  Dave had picked up some wood chips that were made from old oak barrels that were used to age Jack Daniels.  Just sniffing the bag of chips was enough to make you feel like you had just downed a stiff drink!  Dave smoked a pork shoulder that was amazing!
We devoured some pulled pork sandwiches with some sweet and spicy BBQ sauce and coleslaw on a cheese bun.  So good!  A Thirsty Beaver was just the thing to wash it down.
After dinner I headed off to Ranchman’s to get a head start on the Calgary Stampede at Bull Bustin’.  This is an up close and personal invitational bull riding event.  I’ve been to bull riding events before but I’ve normally been way far away so this was completely different!  It also gave me a chance to try out my sport continuous shoot mode on my new camera: It was one fun night, that’s for sure!  I’ll be looking forward to Stampeding when I’m back from Great White North!
Happy birthday to my Dad on Friday, and I hope all of my American friends have a great 4th of July!!

Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day to all of my fellow Canadians out there! Hopefully you are having a great day!