Hills and more hills, redux

There has been one theme this week it seems. Hills, hills and more hills! I rode hills on Tuesday, ran a hilly run on Wednesday…then had more hills in store for the weekend. Originally I had an 80K ride on my schedule but I had an invite out for a ride on Saturday that would be more like 110km. I double checked with Angie that she was okay with me doing the longer ride, and so long as it wouldn’t affect the quality of my workouts later in the week I was good to go! Four of us met out in Cochrane, Pam, Kevin and Susi. Susi was the only one who had ridden this route before so it was going to be a surprise!

We have really lucked out with the weather this week and Saturday was no exception. It was low to mid 20s (low to mid 70s) and amazing sunshine out. Where we didn’t really luck out was with the wind. It was crazy out! We made our way out of Cochrane and on to Horse Creek and I thought there were times that I might get blown over. Kevin and I wound up riding out Horse Creek together and he was trying to give me tips on drafting. Obviously you can’t do it in a race, but he was encouraging me to try and find the sweet spot behind his wheel where you don’t have to work as hard. Which is easier said than done when you have a wind trying to blow you sideways! Horse Creek has some good hills and I was powering up them. In hindsight…maybe a little too hard for the beginning of a long ride…oops! As we neared the spot on Horse Creek that I dread there was a welcome surprise in sight. There is a portion of the road that is just brutal with pot holes and it is so rough to ride. Not to mention that there are a couple of big hills around here… Well, they are in the process of paving it! As this is part of the Calgary 70.3 course that will no doubt make the racers happy!

Kevin and I continued north on Horse Creek until the turn off for Bottrel. We debated between waiting for Pam and Susi here, or continuing on the general store in Bottrel. Just then a pick up truck pulled up to the stop sign. We asked him how far the general store was, and it wasn’t too far…only about 3K or so. Um…he was a pretty congenial fellow…he advised us to find the girl working at the liquor store in Bottrel because she sold great ice cream apparently. The Tiger Tail is supposed to be fantastic. (Tiger Tail is orange with black liquorice swirled through it and I absolutely love it!!) But it was a little early in the ride for ice cream. :( About then Susi and Pam pulled up, so on to the general store for our first opportunity to refill our water bottles and to hit the bathrooms. By this point in time you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere and the General Store is a total hoot. There is a super friendly dog and cat there waiting to greet you. The store’s motto is that if “We ain’t got it…you don’t need it!”

We took a quick break and then we were back on the road. We did a short stint along highway 22, but we quickly turned off and from there on out it was beautiful…quiet…and so rural. Amazing. There were a ton of horses, cows…you name it. And there were some itty bitty baby cows! The hills just kept rolling though…up, down, up down. We hit our second water stop at the Beaver Dam golf course, then turned around and headed back to Lochend Road to make our way back to Cochrane. Lochend Road…Susi said it perfectly when she said that the hills just kept coming. You’d see a hill, climb it and crest it, then see another one just a short distance away. This continued on the entire way down Lochend…about 19 miles! I didn’t really have a lot of oomph to power through the hills, but I was certainly climbing them steadily and that felt really good. I was pretty happy when we hit Highway 1A to head back to Cochrane. That meant the climbing was over and it was just a straight shot back to the finish. I took off down 1A, eager to get back because I had dinner reservations that I was a worried that I was going to be late for. When I hit Cochrane I chickened out on going down Cochrane hill and took the more gentle (but longer) way down into town by Gleneagles Golf Course. Then it was back to the car to load up the bike and hurry up for home and dinner! But first, check out the elevation profile of our ride. 2320 feet of climbing, somewhere around 67.5 miles for the ride.

I rushed home, took the fastest shower ever…and booted it out to southeast Calgary for dinner at Bolero. My sister-in-law and I have birthdays that are just over a week apart, so this was our chance to celebrate together. I’ve mentioned Bolero before – it is a Brazilian Churascurria that is amazing. Guys with different cuts of beef, chicken pork and lamb on swords come by your table to serve you. And one of the highlights is there grilled pineapple… So yummy! I may have had a one night stand with beef last night…but it was so worth it!

As for today, I had a 2650m swim and a 90 minute hilly run on the schedule. I wanted to hit the pool up early before it got busy, but I also wanted a bit of a chance to sleep in too! I got into a lane at 10 am and it was actually pretty quiet. I ran through my 2650m endurance ladder workout and it felt so good. I wasn’t fast, but I felt consistent the whole time. I like having these extra swim workouts on the weekend. If I time it properly at the right pool then it is nice and quiet and I enjoy the chance for quiet reflection in the water. It makes a nice change from my Tuesday/Thursday swim class where I am crazily trying to hang on to the swimmers in front of me all the time.

As for the 90 minute hilly run, I wanted to wait until the afternoon to get that done. I figured I’d give my legs as much time off as possible between yesterday’s bike and today’s run. I headed back out to Baker Park again since I knew I’d hit some good hills. My legs were definitely hurting on the uphills, but I felt strong on the flats and the downhills so I knew the legs were in good shape. I ran out 45 minutes…stopped, had a drink and realized I was almost out of water. It was hot out and there was no way I was going to make it back on just the couple of sips left in my bottle. I detoured slightly to the Shouldice Pool and found a water fountain I could fill up at. Then it was back to the car! All said and done I ran for 8.62 miles. It wasn’t fast, but I ran those hills strong and got the workout done!

As for refuelling…I decided to make good use of my barbeque today. I grilled up some fresh sockeye salmon marinated in a mixture of olive oil, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, horseradish, brown sugar and rice vinegar. I also grilled up some Brussels sprouts and garlic in a foil pouch (maybe for a bit too long, but this was my first attempt), along with some asparagus, eggplant and zucchini. I served it up with some arugula, tomato and balsamic vinegar…so good! Alright, time to get ready for tomorrow… Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Forgetful...

Yesterday I went to a really interesting lunch and learn put on my the Young Professionals division of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. It was all about time management. Sure...some things are basic but it was really good to hear everything. One tip was to get everything ready the night before...and to avoid being industrious in the mornings when you should be getting ready for work. Yeah...things that could certainly apply to me!

So anyhow, last night I decided to put my new found knowledge to work and got my swim bag ready for this morning. The alarm went off this morning and even Finlay was ready and raring to go at 4:45 am. I actually even made it to the Y on time... I got there at the same time as my friend J and we were chatting in the locker room when I realized that I left my goggles and cap in my race bag from the weekend. Doh! Luckily J had spares to lend me...and oh happy day! I have some new goggle love!!!!!
I borrowed a pair of Aqua Sphere Kaiman goggles. I've been using TYR's Femme T-72 Ellipse. These work fine, but I have to smoosh them into my eye sockets or else they leak. The Aqua Sphere goggles? No smooshing needed. So comfortable! And no crazy goggle marks after the swim!! So forgetting my goggles actually worked out not too badly. As for the swim? Ugh... 2000m done...but it wasn't pretty...

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Best of luck to any of you that are racing in any of the events for the HSBC Calgary Marathon! I helped to assemble race packets this evening. Um...if anything is missing from your packet it wasn't me!

Hills, hills and snakes

Last night we were back at Edworthy for group hill repeats on the bike. We went up the hill once and into the nearby neighborhood for a quick warm up. No surprise my legs were tired going up the hill... I figured I'd just ride...see what happened and take it slow. As I kept going up and up the legs felt better. I didn't ride as quickly as last week, and I got in the same number of hill repeats for a total of six.

My brick run was optional but I was feeling good so I took off with my teammate Pam. We were supposed to go out and back along the river for 15 minutes and we hit our turnaround point before I knew it. All in all, a good night of hill repeats and a great brick!

I had an optional rest day today, but since I won't have time to get my run in tomorrow I decided to do it today. I headed out to Baker Park for the first time this year for a 5 mile run. This probably wasn't my smartest decision since the pathway along the river here is hilly. I just sucked it up and made peace with the fact that this run wouldn't be speedy. At least it was gorgeous out and warm! As I was coming down the final big hill with one mile left to go I looked down...just a little too late...and saw a snake!! It was just a little itty bitty snake, but it still scared the crap out of me and I jumped and screamed like a total girl. Yeah, that was enough incentive to get me to pick up the pace for the last mile back!

And for the rest of the trip…

I was in a rush to make it out to the Okanagan on Thursday. The plan was to head out for dinner at Gasthaus on the Lake in Peachland.

Thursday night is schnitzel night - all you can eat schnitzel, spaetlze, red cabbage, potatoes, sauerkraut and hunter sauce. Plus salads and apple fritters with ice cream for dessert. There is a lot of food available...and I was smart enough to not go for multiple rounds of schnitzel. Oh it was good...

On Friday we took a trip down to Penticton. I was keen to check out Cannery Brewing - the official brewery of Ironman Canada. There was some good stuff there!On Saturday we took a trip down to Oliver so I could test out the waters of Lake Tuc-el-Nuit and so I could grab my packet and go to the pre-race meeting. We stopped in at Quinta Ferreira for a tasting. This was one of my best tasting experiences in a long time. If you are ever in Oliver I highly recommend stopping in! I'm not a huge fan of rose wine, but the rose from here will make you think twice.

We stopped in at another winery where the guy behind the counter contemplated carding me. I practically tripped over myself...and I'm surprised that I didn't spill the entire contents of my wallet...as I rushed to hand over my ID.

For my birthday dinner we went to a French restaurant in Kelowna, Bouchons. The food is absolutely amazing here. In fact, there are some fantastic restaurants all over the Okanagan. Let me know if you ever need any suggestions out that way at all.

 

 

Recovery Ride..??

Well...I am back home in Calgary after a 7 hour drive through the Rockies. Before I left Kelowna today I had a recovery bike ride that I wanted to get in. Kelowna has an amazing network of bike lanes and bike paths. I mapped out a route that would be reasonably flat that should take me somewhere around an hour. The first half of the route was not too exciting. A bit of uphill here and there, but not much scenery out there. Until I hit the top part of my loop that is! All of a sudden it was nice and rural and the scenery was beautiful! Should I mention that this was also the part of the ride where I realized that my cell phone was sitting on my bedside table...at home..??Lots of green and a few orchards around here and there. Beautiful.It was time to head back into town and it was pretty well downhill. I hit one section that was a 5-6% grade downhill and picked up some speed. I tried to keep it reigned in...but... I turned a corner and there was a set of railroad tracks to go over. And there was a huge rut right at the track. I hit the rut, then the tracks and got some air...then landed. I looked down and no surprises...flat in the back tire. Hey...this would be my first time changing a tire...by myself...on the side of the road...fun! I swapped out the tube, filled it up with CO2, then struggled to get the back wheel back on. All said and done it took me about 16 minutes. As I started away there was a funny sound. Something wasn't right... It kind of sounded like thump, thump, thump... I pulled over, felt the tire to see if there was still air in there...yup. I started off again, same weird sound and within 30 seconds the tire then went BAM!!! I obviously had caught the tube under the tire bead right by the valve stem. Bugger... Luckily I had another spare tube and CO2 cartridge, but now I was shaken. If I made the same mistake again I'd be screwed as I was still 5 miles away from my car. And did I mention that I'd forgotten my cell phone at home?

I swapped out the tube again and made sure to check that it wasn't caught anywhere, especially by the valve stem. I filled her up and put the wheel back on. Just then a fellow walked by and asked if I was okay. He mentioned that there was a bike shop about two blocks away if I needed anything, so that was good to know. If I had another blowout in a minute at least I would have somewhere to go!

As I got back on the road it looked like things were holding...sort of. When I looked down it would look like there wasn't a lot of pressure in the back tire, but then I would stop and feel it and it felt just fine. Let's just say that I was really happy that I made it back to the car without another flat!

Um...so yeah...just over 18 miles of recovery riding in the bag...plus a little flat changing experience to go with it!

Wine Capital of Canada – Olympic Triathlon – Race Report

It's my birthday, and I'll race if I want to! Honestly, I couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate turning 31 than doing something I love in an absolutely beautiful place. The Wine Capital of Canada triathlon in Oliver seemed to fit the bill. I'll clue you in on the rest of the weekend later, but for now, let's get to the race report!

My folks live about an hour to an hour and a half away from Oliver (depending on traffic). I never really thought about staying in Oliver, I just figured I would drive down the morning of the race. I was up at 5 am, had a shower, ate a bit of breakfast, grabbed a to go mug of coffee (that my dad made...he makes much better, and stronger coffee than me), and hit the road at 6 am. I got to the race site shortly after 7 am. I took all my gear over into transition, set things up, and hit the bathrooms a few times. Sometime after 8 am I started wiggling into my wetsuit. I headed down to the beach to get in the water and splash around. Yesterday afternoon the lake was 19.1C (66F). It has definitely warmed up over the last few days and the water temperature was really comfortable. All of a sudden it was 8:30 and it was go time for the Olympic athletes.

The Swim:
We would do two out and backs close to the lakeshore. At the end of the first lap we'd run out of the water, run around the fencing you see just off left hand side of the picture, then back in the water to do it all again. We had a 20 minute head start on the Sprint athletes. I was fully expecting to get run over by them on my second lap... When it was go time I watched the front of the crowd swim away and then I set off. I just wanted to swim comfortably the whole time. I really didn't care what my pace was since I knew that if I tried to book it, it would only make a minor difference to my time. But I would be exhausted after the swim if I did.

I discovered that the one unfortunate thing on the open water swim. I wear glasses, but my prescription isn't terrible. It is about a -1.25 in each eye. Normally my somewhat fuzzy vision in the pool isn't noticeable to me. But my slightly off vision, plus goggles makes sighting for buoys a real pain in the rear. I can't just pop my head up and see them, I need a few seconds for the picture to make sense in my brain. Whenever I wanted to sight I'd just pop into a heads up breast stroke kind of manoeuvre since that seemed to be a bit more effective. But I was most definitely not swimming very straight on my first lap. It felt like the swim on the way back took less time, and I was pretty happy to have the first lap over and done with. Although for some reason...I decided not to run out of the water and around the buoy. I treated it like some kind of Sunday stroll. Huh?
The guy next to me...and also in front of me had the same idea! And back in the water we go as the Sprinters are waiting for their wave to start.The wind started picking up over the course of the morning and I quickly discovered that I would be best off breathing on one side to avoid getting mouthfuls of wave. I felt like I was swimming a lot straighter on the second lap...maybe because I had few people to be led of course by. As I turned the final buoy to swim the last 375 m in I noticed that my chest was feeling a bit funny. I was breathing fine and not in distress at all...but it turned out that I really needed to burp! It made the heads up breast stroke a wee bit uncomfortable on the way back in, but otherwise I was feeling just fine. I was looking forward to getting out of the water to fix that though! I exited the water, ran over some grass, and up some stairs into transition. The clock read about what I figured:
1500m - 35:31 - 107 out of 134

T1 - 2:42 - 81 out of 134

I think I was a bit out of it. It took me a few moments to get the wetsuit off...and trying to put socks on wet feet is hard!

The Bike:

I ran my bike out of transition and crossed the mount line, then got on my bike. In the few seconds that it took me to get on my bike I went from having no one around me, to some woman that ran right in front of me and stopped to get on her bike, just as I was trying to pedal away. The road was pretty wide at this point, so I was kind of ticked off at her for that little trick. Grr. I got on and road away...happy to be away from the swim and now on my bike!

Just a short distance away from transition you head out on the main road and have a hill to climb. The hill looked a bit big initially, but once I was riding up it was no big deal. For the next few miles we were riding past wineries and along a nice rolling road. I didn't realize it at the time, but we had a pretty good tail wind going. I was flying along here, passing people and having a great time and enjoying the scenery! I was averaging about 21 mph until I turned a corner to head out to Highway 97. That was when I realized that there was actually wind around... Highway 97 is reasonably flat and I felt like I should have been able to just fly down here but that wasn't happening. I got down in my aerobars and just kept it in a gear where I could pedal at 90 rpm and feel comfortable doing so. I still managed to pass quite a few people despite the wind. I guess training in windy Calgary is paying off!
My dad managed to snap this great shot of me as I headed off Highway 97 onto some back roads to bypass riding through Oliver. I was really happy with how I rode and loved every minute on the bike.
40 km - 1:20:53 - 84 out of 134 (18.5 mph)

T2 - 1:18 - 49 out of 134

This was my fastest ranked activity of the day. That's interesting...

The Run:

I will say that I definitely, without a doubt, need to work on my pacing strategy on the run. I always start out too fast. My legs felt pretty good from the get go and I ran at what felt like a comfortable pace. I looked down at my watch and I was running a sub 9:00/mi pace. Hmm, doubt that is sustainable for 10K! We had a hill to climb just as we left transition and there was an aid station at the top. We'd be doing two loops of the course. I grabbed a Gatorade because I knew I needed some fluids. I also knew I needed to take my Gu but I felt a little wary without plain water to wash it down. Only thought of that once I was past the aid station... So I hung on to it for now and just ran. The run was most definitely not flat. It wasn't crazy hilly either, but it had plenty of uphill stretches to wear your legs out. We hit the turnaround point and thankfully there was another aid station here, so I grabbed water and Gatorade and took my Gu. By then it probably didn't make much of a difference, but oh well. Back on to running... I hit 5K around 28:xx...not too bad but my pace was definitely fading.It was pretty hot out (28C or 82F) and there wasn't too much of a breeze. I watched any thoughts of a PR go out the window, but I knew I could still break an hour on the run. While I had no real goals for the race I knew without a doubt that I would be disappointed if I didn't run a sub 60:00 10K. I mustered what I could for a final kick to the finish. Luckily the final stretch was all downhill...!!

10 km - 58:02 - 93 out of 134 (9:20/mi)2:58:24
Overall: 91 out of 134
Females 30 - 34: 5 out of 7
Females Overall: 24 out of 49

After I crossed the finish line the race director was there to shake my hand and congratulate me on my race. He asked if I had a good time and enjoyed myself. Gotta love those races where the RDs take a real interest in how people like the race. I wandered over to my spot in transition to pack a few things up and grab a bottle of nuun off my bike. I then met up with my parents (slash race photographers extraordinaire) and we grabbed some food at the post race BBQ. All in all, it was an amazing day!

View Full Album

Taking the Show on the Road

Well my friends, it is time to take this triathlon show on the road! I'm off to the Okanagan tomorrow to hang out for my birthday and race a little Olympic tri. My friend Janelle is racing as well, and Kelownagirl is racing the sprint. I heard a rumor from Janelle's fiance that the lake we will be swimming in is still pretty cold. The last I heard is that the lake is running 16-17C. Fingers crossed it warms up in the next few days! Just in case I picked up a neoprene cap from Nineteen.

Packing for a little 4.5 day weekend away is a whole other animal when a triathlon is involved. Thanks to this race day checklist site I made a note of everything I would need - racing related or not. Yes it is true, I even need to remind myself to pack underwear.I put everything I needed on my spare bed. Please pardon the checkerboard painting on the wall. I have been wanting to repaint this room since I bought my place, I just haven't exactly gotten around to it...in the 2-1/2 years that I've been here...
Less than a quarter of my bed is clothing to wear this weekend, the rest is racing or training gear. Since I have a trial swim, a quick run and a recovery bike to take care of while I'm out of town I needed all of the gear for that too. Wow... Then all packed up...In workout news I actually had a rest day on the schedule today but it didn't quite work out that way. Since I'm working in the morning then headed out on the road in the afternoon I won't have time to get my scheduled run in. I also took my car in for service this morning. I normally take transit in from the car dealership...but really...I am not a huge fan of that. I threw my bike on the back of my car and then had a quick ride into work once I dropped my car off. Less than three miles one way. Not exactly a fun ride since there a lot of stopping for traffic lights, but it beats the train any day!

Alright, must clean up the kitchen then get to bed...

Edworthy Hill Climb Night

Saturday and Sunday were amazing around here, but the weather completely turned yesterday. We are talking just about freezing and plenty of rain. Sigh... Angie was adamant that we would get some hill repeats in tonight. Rather than planning to meet in Cochrane we met at Edworthy Park in Calgary instead. This way if a downpour started we'd be closer to our cars.We headed across the river for a quick warm up, then went up and down the hill into Edworthy Park. Up and down, again and again. Luckily the rain held off for us, but it was chilly out.I felt good on the hills - but there are some definite strong climbers in the group that would pass me like I was standing still. So the hill repeats went well, but I can see plenty of room for improvement! 12.81 mi done, including 6 repeats, and 1827 ft of climbing.

After that it was time for a quick brick run. My toes felt somewhat frozen and like I was running on stumps. After about 8 minutes or so the blood was flowing to my feet and things started to feel normal. All in all, it was a great workout!

Women's Race Nutrition Strategies

On Sunday I tuned into a webinar put on by Infinit Nutrition that focused on nutrition in training and on races. Dede Griesbauer and Kim Mueller (a registered dietician) were on hand to give tips and answer questions. In case you aren't familiar with Infinit, you can customize your own personal fueling mix. Ironman, short distance, or a bike or run formula. You decide what you want and come up with something that works for your body. I've read that a lot of bloggers out there use Infinit. I wanted to check out the webinar first, but it definitely sounds like a great product.

Here are a few pointers that I picked up from the webinar:

• Fuel properly before you start racing. Fiber can be a disaster on race day as it takes a long time to digest. Pick something with refined carbohydrates so you can digest it quickly, but add in some protein so that your blood sugar won't spike up then drop.
• Allow at least 1 hour of digestion for every 200 calories eaten pre-race.
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate pre-race!
• Females need on average 200-300 calories/hour on the bike. Needs to be mainly carbohydrate based. Protein can be taken in, but only on the bike and for events longer than 3 hours. Aim for 3-4 grams of protein/hour.
• Protein needs more oxygen for digestion, so oxygen is diverted from the muscles to the belly. This can result in cramping and gut problems if taken in on the run. Switch to a carbohydrate only based nutrition plan as soon as you start on the run.
  
• The most common cause of performance decline has to do with fluid intake. If you are dehydrated calories will sit in your stomach instead of going to fuel your muscles.
• If you are taking in calories and fluids as you should be, you shouldn't experience bloating. The exception to this may on a very hot day.

Dede also shared how she carries her nutrition on race day. She mixes Infinit in concentrated amounts in a gel flask, then dilutes it down in an aerobottle on the race course. This way she can carry a couple of gel flasks with her. If you mix all of your nutrition into one water bottle, then hit a bump in the road and lose the bottle, your nutrition is all gone for the day. That makes a couple of gel flasks Dede's preferred strategy!

Hope these tips may help some of you!

The Fallout

After the ride I felt pretty good. I could have gone for a brick run, but by the time I got back to my car it was already after 4 pm. You can bet I was needing some real food besides the fuel I had brought along on the ride. I had an invite to my brother and sister-in-law's place. My brother had spent the better part of Saturday smoking a pork shoulder. Pulled pork, BBQ sauce, provolone cheese all on a cheese bun...plus a spinach salad...amazing stuff!Sunday morning I had a swim and a run on the plan. The swim involved a whole bunch of balance drills. Not really surprising, but I felt the most comfortable when I was on my left side, therefore breathing to my right. This has always been my most comfortable side for breathing. When I flipped on my right I noticed that my legs were more prone to sinking but this definitely helped me even things out. 2000m done and it was time to shower and head out for my run.

I really wasn't expecting amazing things from this run after my epic ride on Saturday. It really was not a big surprise to see my pace was over one minute per mile slower than usual. I thought my legs might shake things out as I continued on but my pace never wavered. I just had no juice in my legs at all. I was supposed to run for 9 miles but when I saw my pace wasn't improving I thought it might be a good idea to cut it short. After all, I do have a race on Sunday so I didn't see much point in gutting the distance out. I cut it back to 5 miles instead. No pain on the run at all...just no juice in the legs. Oh well!

Mondays are a bit up in the air on my schedule now. Angie had me down for just yoga on Mondays. I'm all out of drop in passes at my usual studio and I'm feeling too cheap to purchase some more. I floated the idea of switching Monday out to being an upper body strength day instead. I'd love to have some guns like Missy, I just don't want to swim all of those laps in the pool to get them! Since today was a holiday here - Victoria Day - I spent the majority of my day in pajamas puttering around the house. Finally at 5 pm I made it out to the Y. I didn't do anything fancy - I just ran through the upper body weight machines, did some bicep curls and tricep work, then followed it up with some core and stretching. I had to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and my arms were so tired that it was tough just hanging on to my purse! Yup, I've got some work to do!

Long Weekend = Long Ride to Elbow Falls

Ahh...the long weekend is here! Angie wanted to organize a long ride for us on Saturday to help celebrate. There would be an option to shorten it if you wanted to, or else you could try for the whole thing. I figured that a super ride would require some super fuel the night before! I stopped by Globefish on my way home to pick up a spicy tuna roll, a chopped scallop roll and my favourite, the Crazy Buster roll (spicy tempura roll wrapped with fresh tuna, served with fire spicy sauce, green onion and pieces of crispy garlic). I washed it down with some Anarchist Amber Ale from Cannery Brewing out of Penticton, BC. They are the official beer of Ironman Canada. You can bet that I'll be checking them out when I am in the Okanagan next weekend!

The plan was to ride from Cochrane to Bragg Creek, then continue out to Elbow Falls. The total possible distance was up to 120 km. I haven't ridden that far before I wanted to make sure I had enough nutrition with me. I asked Angie how much I should aim for and she figured that for a possible 4 hour ride that 800 calories would be a good number. I didn't want to just be downing gel after gel, I figured my stomach would appreciate some actual food. I went with one Honey Stinger Protein Bar (390 calories of pure yumminess in Dark Chocolate Coconut Almond) and two packs of Gu Chomps in Blueberry Pomegranate (180 calories per pack). This was my first time trying out the Chomps and they really are tasty!

We met in Cochrane and headed out south on Highway 22. This long ride was essentially all uphill on the way out. As soon as we turned on to 22 we were going up a big hill and Angie cautioned us to not hammer the hill or we may wind up regretting it later. I knew it was going to be a long day so I didn't really care how fast I rode, I just took it nice and easy up the hill. The kicker was that not only were we riding uphill, we were also riding into a headwind. Fun stuff! It wasn't super strong though so I was really just focused on riding and spinning.

There is quite a bit of traffic on Highway 22, with plenty of trucks or folks hauling trailers whizzing past you. Thankfully the shoulder is pretty wide most of the way. The only time it is really narrow is as you cross over the Trans Canada Highway.

We regrouped at the Cinnamon Spoon, then turned off on Provincial Highway 758 to continue on. This was where the scenery started to get amazing. Beautiful views of the Elbow River at times, the amazing mountains in the distance...it was gorgeous. This was also where you could tell the ride was going to get tougher as the rolly hills started. 758 dead ends at Highway 66, so we took a right to head towards Elbow Falls. After this point people started flatting all over the place. I passed the first contingent and continued on. There were plenty of knowledgeable folks to help out (and they were front of the pack folks), so since I was pretty near the back I just continued on. After I passed them I ran up to the first Texas Gate. The lady ahead of me was stopped just before the gate and I asked her how we negotiated it. She told me to just ride over it. I didn't see the other person ahead of me bike over it so I didn't really notice that there were a couple strips of metal over the bars that we could ride over...instead of riding over the round bars. Um...yeah...I wouldn't recommend biking straight over the rolly bars! It is quite the experience. By the time we approached the next Texas Gate this lady was ahead of me so I got to see how you really ride over these things...

A little farther ahead my friend Tara pulled over with her first flat. We wound up with quite the contingent to help her out...plenty of supervisors really... She had just purchased a CO2 kit and it had a nozzle on it for Schrader valve instead of a presta... It also didn't have a flow control mechanism on it and the first CO2 cartridge was lost to the atmosphere... I hung around to watch them change the tube, but took off when they were trying to fill it up with air. By then there were at least 10 of us on the side of the road. Since I was near the back for this ride I figured it would be best to ride on, so a few of us took off. A few moments later everyone was back on the road and I was passed by the speedy contingent again.

Just before the big uphill to the end of the highway they were pulled over again...another flat! Angie told me to ride on, but as I passed she shouted out that I needed to be in my absolute easiest gear and just spin since I was about to start the big long climb. These are great things to know! From here it was just climb, climb, climb... I was on my own at this point and just focused on getting to the top. It was tough...but it was feeling like the biggest accomplishment! Angie passed me singing along and shouted that I was doing awesome and to just keep up the great work. Finally...I was at the top! There was a bit further to go along the highway to the very end, but since we had lost a bunch of time to flats along the way Angie figured this would be a good turn around point (especially since about 3/4 of the group were already on their way back down by now).

We waited for the last few people to show up, then grabbed a picture before starting the descent. That's Sarah, myself, Tara and Angie there.

So...if you check out the elevation profile you can see what we climbed... And that would make for one crazy descent! Honestly folks, I am quite the fraidy cat on descents. I am trying to embrace them now and make sure I feel comfortable and in control (without riding my breaks the whole way down). For the most part I felt really great on this one, there was just one patch where there was quite a bit of gravel on the shoulder that had me feeling a bit nervous. Maximum speed recorded by Garmin - 38.56 mph (62 kph).

Once we were past the steep section and cruising the downhill back to Bragg Creek it was awesome. We had a tail wind and I was really happy with how I was riding - high cadence and nice and speedy. Just before we hit the Texas Gates on the way back Tara flatted again...same tire. She was out of CO2 and had only brought one tube with her. Luckily I had two tubes that are the same size as hers. I figured this may be a good opportunity for me to try out my CO2 thingamajigger. I've got the Ultraflate Plus which is trigger operated and has a locking feature so you can be sure that you won't accidentally discharge your CO2 at the wrong time. This worked like a charm and the tire inflated in about a second or two. Nice stuff.

Back on the road...just as I turned left off of Highway 66 I dropped my chain as I tried to change gears in anticipation of the hill ahead. I lost the speedy folks ahead and the last two gals pulled over to give me a quick tip for getting the chain back on. They went ahead since I knew I'd catch up to them. As I was coming down a hill and going around a corner I saw a truck pulled off to the side and a few bikes in the grass. I couldn't really see anything because of the truck and it wasn't until I passed them that I realized the people off to the side were part of our group. I caught up to the girls in front to ask what had happened and they weren't sure. I wondered if we should go back but they had been told to continue into Bragg and wait there.

We aren't really too sure what happened since no one saw it happen, but one of my teammates took a tumble over her handlebars. There were three cracks straight through her helmet. Thank goodness for the helmet because otherwise those cracks would have been in her head. She'll be okay, but if she hadn't been wearing a helmet it would have been a completely different story. I know there are people out there that won't wear helmets...I see them all the time...and my ex was a staunch "I don't want to wear a helmet" kind of guy. If you go down on your bike it doesn't just traumatize you, but it affects the people that are with you too. So please...wear a helmet...

Once our teammate was on her way to the hospital we started taking off from Bragg in groups. We still had a tailwind and I was feeling pretty good...until I hit the intersection of Highway 22 and Highway 8. The wind shifted and all of a sudden I was now riding into a headwind. And sure...it was downhill on the way home but this was one strong headwind. I had to stay in the big ring just to keep some kind of cadence up. Just before I was at the overpass of the Trans Canada I decided to pull over and grab a drink. With the crazy wind the cars whipping past I didn't feel comfortable trying to do that while riding. When I put my foot down I realized my leg was a bit shaky. My muscles were running out of fuel so I took the opportunity to down a few more Gu Chomps. Back on the road... After passing the Trans Canada I knew I didn't have much longer to go but the wind was really sucking the life out of me. Every once in awhile the wind would abruptly shift directions and you'd have to counteract the forces as you were being pushed from side to side. As I pedaled on I took stock of what was happening with my body. Really...my legs were feeling good after I had eaten. Plenty of juice still left in them. I had a big knot in my trapezius, but nothing that should really impede my riding. Anything that was going on was all in my head. Knowing that I knew I could pick up the pace from where I was at and just bring this thing home. When I got back at the car I was pooped...but I felt amazing! I felt a real sense of accomplishment for riding that far and really at the end of the day, feeling good about the ride.

My bike computer says I rode 70.82 mi...MapMyRide says 69.24 mi. I had some Garmin errors (like forgetting to start Garmin up after pausing at the side of the road) so that number is a bit off. Anyway you slice it...69 or 70 miles...that was a long way especially when you consider my longest ride to date has been somewhere around 26.5 mi or so.

Hope everyone else is having a fantastic weekend!!

Don't Rain on My Parade!

I haven't been to my swim clinic at the Y since last Tuesday, and it looks like yesterday was the perfect day to show up. The lanes were down...it was open water swim simulation day! Perfect considering my first open water triathlon is next weekend!! The goal was to swim around in a square for 30 minutes. My plan was to swim evenly and consistently...not worry about pace too much...and to not get stressed out! The swim went beautifully. Richelle's cornering tricks worked like a charm and I felt really comfortable the whole time. I wasn't a speedster which was okay by me. I just wanted to find a pace that I could swim at for the entire 30 minutes without wiping myself out. The swim wound up being a huge confidence builder for next weekend. Good stuff!!!

I had another steady state interval run to take care of over lunch. The sky was looking pretty gray... I hit the first interval with no problems, although I could tell my legs were slightly tired from the bike/brick from the day before. Somewhere in there the skies opened up and rain started to fall. The rain wasn't too bad...but it looked like it had the potential to get worse. I'm not opposed to running in the rain, but when you run over lunch and don't really want to get back to the office looking like a drowned rat...well... I wound up cutting the run short because I really didn't want to get dumped on. My 1:10 min run turned into 40 minutes. Oh well!

Today is a rest day, then we have a long weekend here. Monday is Victoria Day. I have something happening on Saturday that should be very interesting...just so long as I'm not so exhausted afterward to tell you about it! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

First things first...I have to clear something up! A few folks got all excited when I said I had a swim date with DGB. D is my friend and coworker Debbie. We've done a few races together and she is my partner in crime for the Great Lunch Swap project. So...sorry folks...no exciting date story to share!

Speaking of the swim date...I was tired last night. I had picked out a fun sprint workout that I had really enjoyed the last time I ran through it. Last night the mind was willing but the body wasn't. I just couldn't muster very much of a sprint and I wound up calling it a night at 1500m. Oh well, at least I got out and got something done! It just goes to show that minimal sleep results in sub-par workouts though...

A peek at the weather forecast this morning indicated a 0% chance of precipitation for the day. That's the first time in a week or two that I've seen that and I knew I needed to take advantage. Time to bike into work! It was pretty brisk in the morning at -3C (27F) but I dressed pretty appropriately so it didn't feel too bad. I tried to keep my cadence over 90 rpm as much as possible and the ride was fantastic.

Since yesterday's canceled ride was supposed to be all about hill repeats I figured that my uphill ride home would be a half decent substitute. I also thought I'd include some hill repeats on the big hill into my neighborhood...that I normally try to avoid. I left behind my backpack at work, left behind my extra warm clothes (since it had now warmed up) and anything else I didn't need. I didn't want any extra weight, I just wanted to ride. Last year this ride home would just kill me. I found it so hard! Now that I've got a bike computer with cadence on it I'm finding that it is really helping my riding. Last year I was just trying to push big gears which would be okay on the flats, but it would tire my legs out and the hills would be so hard. I really noticed today that if I focused on 90 rpm for as much as possible I was riding quickly and efficiently, and I was taking the hills like nobodies business. I went through three hill repeats and would have loved to do more, but I could see some nasty clouds in the distance (0% chance of precipitation???). I wanted to get home and get a brick run in before things got nasty. Here's the elevation profile for my ride home:

When I got home I threw on my running shoes and headed out for my 20 minute brick run. At first my legs felt a bit wooden but they sorted themselves out reasonably quickly. After the ride home I was floored by my pace - 2.27 mi in 20 min, which is an 8:49/mi pace. That's a bit faster than I normally run! So all in all...a great day for workouts!!

Now off to bed so that I can be up and raring to go for my swim tomorrow morning!

An Equation

Leana + Caffeine > 7:30 pm

yields
a Leana that cannot fall asleep

Last night I met up with one of the ladies from my swimming class at Starbucks. I had a London Fog, which is Earl Gray tea, steamed milk and vanilla. I needed to be up early this morning but I just wasn't sleepy. I guess I just am that susceptible to caffeine! I think I probably fell asleep sometime around midnight... Which meant that this morning's 4:30 am wake up was brutal!

I was planning on skipping swimming today because I had to give a big presentation at work this afternoon. I still wanted to get into work early, hence the 4:30 am wake up. As soon as the alarm went off I jumped out of bed and had one thought... Coffee!!

I never make coffee at home. In fact I very rarely drink regular coffee. But I do have a coffee maker and some beans for when my parents come to visit. I went downstairs and looked in the freezer. Thank goodness - I had coffee beans, but no ground coffee to speak of. Hmm. I took out my coffee grinder. I've used it once...
I brewed four cups and had a taste. In case you can't tell, it was horrendously weak. Yuk!
I thought it may be because of how I ground the beans so I ground a bit more (a little bit finer), added a bit more coffee and brewed again. Stronger this time, but still yuck!!
Oh well, it did the trick I guess.

As for our team hill repeat ride today? Canceled again. Stupid rain. Angie sent a trainer workout to do, but I'll be honest. I'm beat. I've also been sucked in by the Biggest Loser finale. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some better weather tomorrow. If so I'll go ride outside on my own, otherwise I'll do Angie's workout inside tomorrow.

So what does that mean? I haven't worked out since Sunday. I have a date at the pool at 9 pm with my friend DGB as well, so hopefully I'll get a little something in today! And then I'm planning on going home, falling into bed...and waking up slightly later than 4:30 am tomorrow...

Have a good night all!

Pool to Path Aquathon - You Should Totally Race It!

Calling all Calgary area athletes! Angie, Richelle and Team Tri Life are organizing the Pool to Path Aquathon in Cochrane on June 7th. It is a 500m pool swim followed by a 5K run. You can find all the details here. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and e-mail Angie or Richelle for an entry form.

I'll be racing, and I hope to see you guys out there too!
---
Sigh...it is really hard to catch up on blogs and watch a hockey game at the same time and I am so sad that the Canucks are out of the playoffs after this evening. Such a heavy heart... :( I'm trying to catch up, but you guys are such prolific writers!

Tech4O Running Watch Review

A little while back I was contacted by the good folks at Tech4O to ask whether I would be interested in reviewing one of their running watches for them. You bet I would!

There are several different models to choose from and there are six women's specific watches in the line up. The women's models range in price from $39.99 to $89.99 and you even have the option of a watch with a heart rate monitor. I was most interested in the Accelerator Runner which retails for $69.99.
So what makes the Tech4O watch different from your standard watch? It has a built in accelerometer that measures you speed and distance, plus the watch will also figure out how many calories you are burning. The built in accelerometer means that you don't need to wear a foot pod or other extraneous device. And because it isn't use GPS you can use this watch while running among tall buildings, under heavy tree cover, or inside at the track or on a treadmill.

Just for comparison you can see how the Accelerator sizes up against my Timex and my Garmin 305:The Tech4O is just a teeny tiny bit larger than my Timex. The nice thing about this is you can use it as your regular watch and have the accelerometer option anytime.

Before you can use the watch you need to spend a bit of time putting your information in and calibrating it. You'll need to run a known distance and the watch will count the number of foot strikes. Input that information into a handy dandy calculator on the Tech4O site.

Unfortunately the calibration was where I ran into a few issues. Initially I ran on the track at the Y. I calculated my stride length and set the watch up for it. The next time I used the watch it was on the treadmill. I had the window set up so that I could see my speed in mph for comparison. At lower speeds my calibration was way off. At higher speeds I was bang on. I took the data and ran it through the calculator then updated the watch again. The next time I ran outside and had my Garmin on one wrist and the Accelerator on another. Once again my calibration was off by about 5%. Obviously my stride varies quite differently depending on whether I'm running the track, the treadmill or outside. I recalibrated the watch again. The next time I wore it outside I checked the stats versus my Garmin at regular intervals. As I was warming up distances were off, but ultimately when I finished up the run the difference between the Garmin and the Accelerator was negligible.

So, what are the pros and cons?

Pros:

• Price: this is significantly cheaper than a GPS based fitness watch
• Size: because this watch is smaller it will fit smaller wrists a lot more comfortably
• Heart rate monitor option: fantastic if you want to keep track of your heart rate as well
• Go anywhere: this would be great for trail running, and I can definitely see using this all the time during the winter whenever I have to head inside to train. I miscount laps all the time and this way I won't have to think about it
• Distance, anywhere and anytime: if you go on a vacation and do plenty of walking you may want an idea of how far you've gone. This is definitely a more subtle way to keep track as opposed to wearing your Garmin!
  

Cons:

• Calibration: I need to use a different stride length calibration depending on where I'm running.
• Data uploading: Data for your run is stored in the watch, but there is no way to upload it to your computer. This may or may not matter to you though!
• Data storage: If you don't store your run to the watch's memory then the run will be erased at some point in time. Not sure when, but I think it is within a week.

Ultimately it depends on what you are looking for in a fitness watch, but I think this is an excellent alternative to a GPS device if you are looking for something a little less expensive. If you are keen on being able to go back and analyze your data over the course of the run it isn't possible here. I can definitely seem some great potential uses for this watch though.

Figuring Out How to Transport Your Bike

On of my tasks for the weekend was to pick out a bike rack for my car. I've been throwing it in the back of my car up until now, but that gets to be a pain after awhile. Also, with all of the traveling that I will be doing with my bike that doesn't leave a lot of room to carry luggage (or a dog sometimes). Plus the back of my car only fits one bike which isn't always convenient.

There are a few options for bike racks. Probably the least expensive option is a trunk mounted bike rack. I never gave this option a lot of thought as my brother had found that his trunk mounted rack wound up doing some damage to the back of his car a few years back. It also makes it difficult to get into your trunk when you have it mounted on the car.

Because my car has rails on the roof I could have gone with a roof rack system. Putting crossbars on my car would not be expensive at all, but the carrier to attach to the crossbars is expensive. To set my car up for one bike would have cost the same as the install of a hitch and a rack with more options for number of bikes I would want to carry. The guy that I was talking to at my dealership also mentioned that a lot of people wind up driving into low clearance areas that aren't high enough for their vehicle and their bike, and wind up doing some damage. I figured I didn't need that possibility! Not to mention the thought of lifting the bike up and down all the time...seemed like a pain in the rear.

The final option for me was a hitch install and a rack. I had the hitch installed on my car a month or two ago, and this weekend I decided that it was time to search for the rack. I'll be honest, I didn't weigh the pros and cons of different hitch mounted racks ahead of time, I just showed up at Bow Cycle to see what they had in stock that would work for me.

I wound up picking up a Thule 912 Roadway 2 bike hitch rack. It retails for $259.99 in Canada. In case you ever pick up something similar and the bike shop offers to install it for you, don't bother. If you can put together an IKEA TV stand, you can install this yourself. It is pretty easy.

First things first, a lock on your rack to the hitch is not standard. Considering the cost of the rack it is worthwhile spending an extra $55 or $60 for the Snug Tite-Lock. (Not sure why this isn't standard...but anyhow...)

The install is pretty simple. You only need one tool and it comes in the box - the Thule tool!

The Snug Tite-Lock comes with a slightly longer lock pin that your lock slides on to. You need one key to lock and unlock from the pin, and a second key is needed to actually get the lock out from the inside of the body, so hopefully it should be pretty secure.

Probably one of the best things about the Thule system is how easy it is to get into and out of your trunk. Just flip a lever the the rack drops forward so you can get in your trunk. Um...just make sure your bike isn't attached...!

The other point worth making is that if you leave your car and bike somewhere you'll want to make sure you purchase a separate lock to secure it your bike to your rack. There are loops near the base of the rack that you can thread it through. I just picked up a 6' Kryptonite cable lock. The rack also comes with a strap to thread through your bike to the rack to prevent sway and to keep your front wheel under control (which I obviously didn't do in the photo below).

Set up is easy...taking the bikes on and off is easy...and your bike feels secure in the back as you drive down the road. In case you are looking at your options for transporting your bike, hopefully this will help a bit!

Sunday Ride

Wow...it has been one busy weekend! Not necessarily full of fun stuff besides the training, but busy none the less. I was up at 6 am to accomplish a few things around the house before getting on to my bike. Thank goodness the weather was slightly more cooperative today for riding outdoors! I had a 1.5 hour ride on the schedule followed by a 20 min run. I drove out to Cochrane, leaving behind sunny skies and heading towards some ominous looking clouds. I hadn't noticed those before I was leaving, but I was already on the road and would have had to turn around and do some research on another route that would have eaten up too much time. I just kept my fingers crossed that I'd be able to outrun the clouds.

I parked at my usual spot to ride the Horse Creek loop. I wanted to ride it and compare it to the last time I road a few weeks back with the group. I saw a few different groups along the way in the beginning, a few of them wearing Team Tri Life jackets. Unfortunately with all that bike gear on it was hard to recognize who was who, so I'm not too sure who I passed!

I'm definitely feeling a lot stronger riding than I did at the end of last year. Must have been all of those amazing training sessions over the winter! Hills that I huffed and puffed on now seem less consequential. I also spent some time getting into my aerobars a bit in the beginning, as well as getting used to my water bottle out of the cage (something I still find a bit tricky).

Once I finished going as far north on my loop as I could go I made a westerly turn and smacked head first into some wind. At this point the road isn't super smooth either and the vibrations were crazy! I hoped that when I turned south I wouldn't be pummeled by the wind so much anymore, but that wasn't the case. I forged on, just kept spinning and tried to keep my cadence as close to 90 rpm as possible. With a few miles left to go in the ride a few sprinkles started to fall. I could tell I was riding towards sunshine so I was keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn't turn into a downpour. Once I turned onto Highway 1A the sprinkles stopped and I was nearly back at my car. All in all, 26.5 miles down, and about 5 minutes faster than the last time I road the loop a few weeks back. I also decided to ride in tri shorts. I figured that since I'll be racing in them I would be best off getting my behind used to riding in them on a regular basis.

I had a 20 minute brick next, and the road that I park on for this ride is probably my least favorite place to run afterward. It is a combination of dirt, mud and gravel and it just sucks any energy out of your legs. Not to mention that you have to start out running uphill. My legs were trashed (ahem...probably because I decided not to down my gel halfway through the ride...) so I wound up running for a whopping 7 minutes.

I stopped by Starbucks for a mocha since I figured it was a good combination of recovery drink (you know, like hot chocolate) and caffeine. I came home, sat on the couch to check a few things on the computer, then figured I'd better get up before I laid down for a long nap. Still plenty more to accomplish! I guess that is what happens when you have a pile of laundry from two weeks or so and a house that desperately needs some tidying!

Anyhow, I hope you folks all had a terrific weekend!!

Bargains, Burritos and More

Thursday

Because I ran on Wednesday that meant that I had a bike to do on Thursday. Originally I was hoping to ride into work but when I woke up and looked out the window I knew that wasn't going to happen. The clouds were nasty and there were possibilities of thunderstorms. I figured that if I got home and the weather was okay I would do the ride outside. Nope, the weather was still crappy, so it would have to be on the trainer. As it turned out I got sucked into watching the Canucks game and the ride just never happened...

Friday

My friend DGB had mentioned a new restaurant in town that opened up that I was keen to try - Mucho Burrito. It is pretty similar to Chipotle (which I love...), but they don't have up here. I decided to make a deal with myself - get on the bike then Mucho Burrito would be the reward. The ride was pretty easy - a 45 minute high cadence spin. I threw season one of Red Dwarf on and spun away. (If you are into British comedies and haven't seen Red Dwarf...I love it! Awesome show from the late 80s and 90s.) Truthfully my stomach was rumbling after 30 minutes so it was off to Mucho Burrito. It was so yummy....and even though I knew I may regret it I went for some hot salsa on top...which was most definitely hot! So good though..!!

Saturday

I had a big round of workouts on the schedule - a 2300m swim followed by a 15K run. I figured my best bet was to swim at the Eau Claire Y early in the morning, then hit the pathways around the river for my run. I threw all the gear I would need into my gym back and took off to try to be at the pool early. I hopped in a lane with two other guys and got to work. The water felt really good and I found my rhythm. The main set called for a 1000m continuous swim, a 1:00 rest, then another 500m continuous swim. Since I was feeling so good I opted to swim the entire 1500m together (in part so I could see where my time would shake out for the distance), then I'd follow it up with a 1:00 rest, another 250m swim, then cool down for a total of 2500m. The swim was awesome!!

I hopped out of the pool, had a quick shower to get the chlorine out of the hair, and put the running gear on. I also downed a gel. I thought I would try a new one - Key Lime Accel Gel. I wanted to try this one out since it has protein in it. I know as my workouts get longer for half Iron training that I'll need to incorporate protein in my fueling so I wanted to see how this stuff tasted and worked.

Taste? It was fantastic. It really tasted just like key lime pie filling. How it worked? Oh well...we'll see...

Mile 1 - 10:25 - I was a bit slow to warm up.
Mile 2 - 10:04 - Getting faster...
Mile 3 - 9:58 - And a bit faster...
Mile 4 - 9:50 - Hitting my stride.
Mile 5 - 9:47 - Faster...but all of a sudden my stomach starts rebelling. Was it the hot sauce? The gel? The pool water I probably ingested earlier in the morning? A combination of all three?
Mile 6 - 9:48 - Holding on...heading back to the Y.
Mile 7 - 9:48 - Still hanging in there
Mile 8 - 9:34 - So close...I just want to be done!
Mile 9 - 10:01 - Total rebellion...
Mile 0.18 - 9:41 - Done, thankfully!

So...was it the gel? Maybe... I still have a couple of packs to try, so we'll see if it happens again. I won't be pairing it with Mucho Burrito again though (I'll save that for before a rest day). My legs felt great on the run, it was just a shame about the ol' digestive system not feeling quite up to par.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, but most especially to my mom!!!!

Sushi Fueled!

I've had to move a few workouts around this week thanks to a few commitments, so that meant getting a run in today over lunch. I had a 64 minute run with 3 x 10:00 steady state intervals. I didn't double check that I had the right workout in my Garmin last night, so once I finally caught a signal and checked things out...oops! The steady state run I had in the Garmin was based on heart rate zones and was probably a 2 hour run. Nothing a few beeps of a button couldn't fix.

I started out on my 20 minute warm up and was feeling good until about 15 minutes in. All of a sudden my legs were tired!! They came around in time for the first interval and then I never had to worry about my pace for the rest of the run. It felt amazing! I wound up with 6.62 mi in 65 minutes.

I met a girlfriend for dinner at my favorite sushi joint, Globefish. We had some amazing sushi and I felt sufficiently fueled for the next task for the day - swimming!

Since my first open water swim race in Oliver is coming up way before any lakes in Calgary are warm enough to swim in I asked Angie and Richelle for a few tips. They normally swim at 9 pm so I headed off to their pool for their workout. Purely by coincidence I was also wearing my sushi suit - so I was sushi fueled, inside and out!! Richelle was in charge for the swim and I got in a lane with three other ladies from my team and got ready to go. We ran through a warm up, then moved into a 500m time trial. The only real 500m time I have to compare to was my swim at the Strathmore Women's Triathlon - 13:51. I figured I'd be a bit faster, maybe around the 11:00 mark or so. I pushed off first and I had a few goals in mind:

• To swim strong and confident, and to keep my breathing under control.
• To not get passed.
• To pass someone if at all possible.

Mission accomplished on all three fronts! I felt so smooth and comfortable on the swim. I was swimming strong and not flailing about and getting myself out of breath. I touched the wall in 10:20 which was definitely better than I was expecting. That is more than a 3 minute improvement on 500m! Woo hoo!!!

From there we moved into some sighting drills like doing a heads up front crawl, or a front crawl with alligator eyes. I'm not sure I'd want to spend too much time doing a heads up front crawl as you have to kick extra hard to combat your sinking legs and it gets pretty tiring. Not to mention you can swallow mouthfuls of water. After that Richelle took the lanes down and we covered deep water starts, which is especially key since Lake Stevens is a deep water start off of a dock. After that we talked about how to execute turns around a buoy. It went so much better today than the last time I tried this and I feel a lot more comfortable with this skill now! All in all a great swim - thanks Richelle! I'm thinking the sushi may have been a good boost as well!!
---
No doubt you have all heard of the Running Superfans by now. These guys are hilarious!! There are all kinds of great videos to check out to see what lengths these guys will go to in order to inspire others to run right here. This one is by far my favourite though:

Carl and Karl Underwood love running.

They love marathons, half-marathons, and half-half-marathons. They love 5Ks, 10ks, and think 401Ks sound pretty fun. They think cross-country, steeplechase, and the first 90% of pole vaulting aren’t too bad, either.

The Underwood brothers are Running’s #1 Superfans and their mission is to share their love of running with the world.

Jinx!

I speculated that last Tuesday night would be our final indoor spin. Looks like I jinxed myself! Some ugly clouds rolled through around 2:00 and we looked destined for a good storm. Just as I left work it started to rain, and just after I got home it started to hail!! Apparently the wind was wicked out in Cochrane, plus there was some lightning too which never makes for a good ride!

Angie e-mailed us a trainer workout so I set the bike up in the garage and hopped on. It was a tough one! There were all kinds of good exercises to simulate hill climbs and I tried to push hard. It is tough to work as hard at home compared to at class, but I think I did a good job today. By the time I was done the workout I was starving!!! Time to head in and throw together some dinner.

I also had a good swim this morning. I have been a bit hard on myself, thinking that I could not keep up the folks in my lane. Today it hit me - I can actually hang on to the toes of two other folks in the lane, there is just one guy who is super speedy that seems to get away from me. I think we are so quick to beat up on ourselves if we cannot meet whatever standard we have set (i.e. not getting dropped ever on the swim) versus seeing whatever progress we have made. So never fail to recognize what you have achieved!

***

As a total aside, the Biggest Loser just started up over here this evening. I CANNOT believe they are going to make them run a marathon!!!! Even making them run a half marathon seemed a bit mean since they had not trained for it, but a marathon is just ridiculous...if you ask me...

A worthwhile run, and a tag!

So I'm back on a schedule! Last week any workouts I did were up to me, and I got in two swims, two runs (both pretty short), and three bikes. Today I had an optional 30 minute run on the schedule. I was arriving in Calgary around 9 am and would be heading straight to work from there. When I packed for Kelowna I didn't actually bring any extra running clothes with me. It wasn't until I was packing this morning that I thought, "hmmm, I should have washed my running gear..." I did the sniff test and I figured it would pass for a lunch time run though!

Today was another one of those epic spring days out in Calgary. The sun was shining and there was minimal wind. The pathways were busy! I was going to do a simple out and back from my office and turned around right at 1.6 miles. When I turned around I wound up running in front of two guys. Before I knew it I heard someone ask me if I had run the Police Half this year...since I was wearing my race shirt. I wound up running with them and it turns out that they are training for the Calgary Half Marathon and the upcoming Calgary 70.3. The guy who asked me about my shirt actually raced Ironman Florida the last two years and we had a great chat about triathlon. It wound up being a really fun run thanks to some great conversation. I have a sneaking suspicion that my pace picked up when company came along too!

In other news, I was tagged Carlee at Chasing Forrest Gump! Here goes:

8 things I am looking forward to
1. Every single triathlon I am racing this year!
2. Cheering on my friends, teammates and blogger buds at Ironman Canada in August.
3. Racing Ironman Canada 2010.
4. Traveling to new places (like the east coast of Australia), or revisiting old favorites (like the UK).
5. Consuming copious amounts of German food and beer on my road trip to Washington in August. Why German food in Washington? Because I'm going to Leavenworth!
6. Becoming a stronger swimmer.
7. Driving home every Friday afternoon so that I can listen to Floorfillers on BBC Radio 1.
8. Running a sub 2:00 half marathon...sometime!

8 things I did yesterday
1. Ate a yummy breakfast of 10 grain cereal, dried fruit, banana, almond butter and chocolate chips.
2. Blogged.
3. Took pictures.
4. Drank a pint of Granville Island Pale Ale and ate a schnitzel sandwich.
5. Bought a new dog collar for Finlay.
6. Continued reading Breaking Dawn.
7. Priced out flights to Las Vegas on Expedia, US Airways and West Jet...with no successful results.
8. Cuddled with Finlay.

8 things I would like to do
1. Finish unpacking all of my moving boxes.
2. Paint my house.
3. Replace the carpet in my living room with hardwood flooring.
4. Win my hockey pool (even though winning wouldn't mean anything other than personal glory).
5. Design the perfect triathlon bra for girls who need just a little bit more support.
6. Live in Australia.
7. Bike across the Rocky Mountains.
8. Improve my sleep habits.

8 shows I watch
1. The Amazing Race
2. Cold Case
3. The Mentalist
4. So You Think You Can Dance
5. The Biggest Loser
6. America's Next Top Model (I swore I wouldn't watch this year...but that didn't happen...)
7. Project Runway
8. er...that's all I've got!