Hanging in the Hunter Valley

On Saturday (aka Boxing Day) I went for a swim, we went for lunch, and then we loaded the car up and hit the road for the Hunter Valley.  It is about a 2 or 2.5 hour drive from Sydney, and is another one of Australia’s great wine producing regions.  We rolled into our accommodations in the Hunter at Parrot Stump Farm just around 5 pm.  Just like the Barossa this place was a self contained cottage in amongst a vineyard.  The owner met us at the cottage just as we arrived.  He was quite concerned that with it being Boxing Day, and everything being closed, that we would be somewhat out of luck for dinner.  He was planning on having a few folks over for ham and he wanted to invite us over.  It wound up being a really fun evening full of good food, good wine and good times as we met a few of the locals from around the area.  Everyone was so nice and friendly that they wound up feeling like old friends by the time the night was over.  It was a great way to start our trip to the Hunter.

Rain, rain…and a bit of running

Sunday I had decided to take as a rest day, and I was definitely happy with that decision when I woke up in the morning.  It was pouring down rain.  It continued to rain all day and well into Monday as well.  Somehow or other I just wasn’t in the mood to slog through the rain.  I had thoughts of heading to the outdoor pool in Cessnock for a swim, but unfortunately I wound up missing the lap swim times in the morning so…another rest day it was.  By Tuesday morning there was a break in the rain so I figured I’d better hit the road!  Much like the Barossa the Hunter is quite hilly although the scenery is very different.  Rolling green fields for as far as the eye can see as opposed to the more dessert like scenery in the Barossa.  Vineyards still dot the landscape though. 

I headed out the driveway away from Parrot Stump and just ran along the road.  There was very little traffic, but there was plenty to see.  This little colt came running up to the fence as I ran past to check things out.Along the way there were also lots of other horses, and some cows, including one very amorous bull.  The area was mostly a few vineyards, olive trees, some houses and the odd bed and breakfast/cottage type of place.  I was hoping to spy some kangaroos as I know they sometimes are nearby.  But no luck…  I ran up the driveway to the cottage and just as I crested a hill I saw some brown lumps way off in the distance.  Could it be?  Might they be kangaroos??  I couldn’t tell directly, so instead I had to get the camera out so I could check it out via zoom and picture.Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have some kangaroos off in the distance!!  Just as I was taking another picture on of the air guns in the vineyard to scare off birds went off and the guy on the left gave a big ol’ leap.Success!  3.1 miles and a kangaroo sighting.

I was wavering on going for another run on Wednesday morning before leaving the Hunter, but as it felt quite a bit cooler and less humid out I figured I’d better take advantage.  I left the camera at home, which was somewhat too bad as I spied a few goats and alpacas out today.  No kangaroos, although I did meet a very boisterous and friendly (thank goodness, although maybe too friendly) sheep dog who was determined to keep jumping up on me and had me wondering if I was going to be able to make it home without him.  Luckily his owner was out checking his olive trees and he was able to grab his dog for me.  Then it was time to pack up and hit the road back to Sydney shortly thereafter.

And what about the wine??

Ah yes, we did do a wee bit of wine tasting in the Hunter.  This region produces some really great Semillons that age nicely in the bottle, along with some good reds too.  We had some fantastic tastings in the area, but the highlight was probably at Keith Tulloch’s.  When you walk into his winery you head upstairs, are given a tasting glass and told to find a spot to sit down.  There are comfy couches inside along with tables on the veranda overlooking the vineyards below.Some of the other places felt a bit like a zoo as you tried to find a spot by the tasting bar to stand, but at Keith Tulloch’s it was so quiet and relaxed.  Every few minutes someone would come by to pour a tasting sip in your glass.  It just so happened that the owner Keith was outside on the veranda that day.  He came by to say hello and we chatted about Canada (like the differences between importing to Alberta versus British Columbia) along with some of the spots that he and his family have skied at in Canada.  And all of his wines were absolutely fantastic.  Lucky for me that he imports to Alberta!

With that the trip to the Hunter is over (along with all of the wine touring) and we are about 20 minutes away from Sydney at the moment.  It is so hard to believe that the final day of 2009 is TOMORROW!!  How did that happen?  Where did the year go?  I am looking forward to spending a few days around here playing tourist and going for some great runs.  Thanks to the lovely Mel I have a few ideas for some great pools to check out too.  I hope everyone is enjoying their final days of 2009 and have a safe and happy New Year!!

Tri It’s Charity Spin - a - Thon

Just a little FYI for all my Calgary friends.  Tri It is holding a charity Spin-a-Thon on January 10th.  For details go here. 

Where?

Rundel College
4336 16th Street SW

HOW?

Load up the car on Sunday morning with your bike and bike trainer. Come on down and enjoy the day.

Why?

To help support Jordan Bryden and Janelle Morrison in their pursuit of excellence. Additional funds will be given to development athletes in the community.

Cost?

65.00 gives you the chance to ride

FOOD

Spolumbos Sandwiches will be free to all athletes. Bars, gels, chews, drinks and snacks are all included!

How Do I Register?

Email us to register!
Email: triitspin@gmail.com
or come visit us at the Tri It store!

9am - 12 pm: Spin #1
12pm - 1pm: Break!
1pm- 4pm: Spin #2 (athletes from spin # 1 are welcome to stay)

Christmas in Sydney

Thursday – Christmas Eve

On Thursday we flew from Adelaide back to Sydney.  Considering it was Christmas Eve I have to say that this was one of the most stress free flights I’ve had lately.  Speedy check in, a quick zip through security, and then a smooth trip over to Sydney.  We checked in at our hotel then set out to explore a bit.  I got my first glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, then it was on to Darling Harbour for dinner and fireworks. Christmas Eve dinner in my family is traditionally fish.  This year, we took seafood to a whole new extreme!  We shared a platter of chilli lobster, cold prawns, oysters, a blue swimmer crab, fried fish, smoked salmon, some salt and pepper prawns and calamari.  Between three of us we were not able to finish all of this, although we did give it a good try!  Just after we finished chowing down the Christmas Eve fireworks went off in Darling Harbour.

Friday – Christmas Day

I was up early on Christmas Day and raring to run.  I plotted out a route that would take me past a lot of the important sights around Sydney.  I left my hotel in Darling Harbour and ran north along Kent Street towards Millers Point.  It was probably about 7 am and navigating the street north through town things were pretty deserted.  Until I happened upon two gentlemen collecting bottles…or something…on the street.  One guy was bending over and was clearly oblivious to the fact that his shorts has completely fallen below his rear end.  Ahem, just a wee bit more than I was bargaining for that morning!!  Soon I was right below the Harbour Bridge though, with the Opera House in my sights! As I passed the train station a group of cyclists were out for Christmas morning ride.  Not a bad idea for Christmas morning if you ask me!  After running around the Opera House I passed into the Botanical Gardens for a bit.  Next time I’d definitely like to run around here a bit more.  I ran down Macquarie Street for a bit, past the Parliament buildings, Sydney Mint and Hyde Park Barracks.

And after that it was time to head back to the hotel.  Maybe just over four miles later?  Later in the evening we did the quintessential thing to do in Sydney on Christmas and we headed over to Bondi Beach.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t that fantastic though as the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Laurence rolled into town…   Believe it or not, there are actually people swimming in the water behind me! 

Saturday – Boxing Day

Time for something new – I needed to hit up a pool!  I probably haven’t swum in almost a month??  I headed off to the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic Centre early in the morning, a 50 metre underground pool right in downtown.  Thanks to it being a YMCA facility I even managed to get in for free with my Calgary membership!  They had eight lanes open for swimming – slow, medium and fast, and freestyle only and other strokes.  I had a bunch of workout cards with me, but they mostly depended on using a 25 metre pool, plus various pull buoys and kick boards.  I decided to ignore the swim cards and just swim.  The best thing about a 50 metre pool is that you may be sharing a lane with two or three other people but you feel like you are the only one there.  I just put my head down and swam for almost an hour.  Boy, it felt good to be back in the water!

One thing that I noticed – men here don’t wear your typical jammer style swimsuits.  They tend to favour budgie smugglers instead…  And with that, it was time to leave Sydney!!  We are in the Hunter Valley for a few days, then back to Sydney in time for New Years.  I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas!

The Barossa – Part II

Tuesday

I started the day off with another run on Tuesday morning.  I decided to turn right outside of the cottage and run in that direction instead.  The run was just as beautiful in this direction, with more vineyards, sheep and hills.  The heat felt a little less oppressive as I started to acclimatize just a bit more.

After the run it was time to explore the wineries around the Barossa just a bit more.  One of my favourite places that we stopped at was Two Hands.  The Barossa is a perfect spot for growing shiraz, and Two Hands have more shirazes than you can shake a stick at.  It was a really neat exercise to sit down and find out about how much shiraz can vary from one area to another as we ran through about ten different wines (although only about seven of those were a shiraz).

Some of the wines were just massive fruit bombs and others were much more refined.  Two Hands also exports quite a bit, so if you happen to see them in your local wine shop I would highly recommend them.  And if you really want to try them and you happen to live in Calgary, give me a shout.  I know a great wine shop were they stock a lot of their stuff at.

Wednesday

There is a really lovely looking outdoor pool in Tanunda (the town that we were close to), and I had really hoped to manage a swim there.  Sadly it was only open for swimming from noon until 6 pm and it just didn’t really work with the schedule.  So instead on Wednesday I rented a mountain bike from the cottage owner and took it out for a spin.

I haven’t ridden a mountain bike for awhile, and this one was definitely a lot heavier than my old road bike.  And…I didn’t exactly bring bike shorts with me either.  Funny how you get used to riding in those things..!!  I was a little worried that I’d forget that I should be riding on the left hand side over here, but luckily I managed to remember that important fact just fine.  I rode down Seppeltsfield Road, a really lovely road lined with palm trees along much of the way.  And, very much like my runs so far, it was hilly.  I went out for about 15 miles, and it was great to see the area from a different perspective.  I even rode past the pool that I had hoped to swim at.

In the afternoon we checked out Peter Lehmann for a tasting.  At the winery you can buy port (or fortified wine) in bulk.  Only $3.70 a litre, unless you are filling a container less than 5L and then it is $3.90/litre.  Interesting, eh?  Apparently people bring in everything from pop bottles to other containers that still have “Caution: Poison” labels on them to fill up with port.  Hmm…hoped they washed that container out well!!

And after that our stay in the Barossa was over!  We flew to Sydney on Thursday (aka Christmas Eve)…

The Barossa – Part I

Monday

We stayed in an absolutely gorgeous self-contained cottage out in the Barossa called Stonewell Cottages.  This place was close to everything, yet it felt so secluded.  The cottage was on a little lake, and in amongst the vineyards.  We had quite the assortment of wildlife around the lake, including three very friendly ducks who quite liked to be fed. 

The cottage is owned by a family that also owns a winery.  Back in the 1980s Australia was going through quite the wine glut and this family decided to diversify by going into the B&B business.  It is quite different from a traditional B&B in that when you arrive your fridge is fully stocked with fresh eggs, milk, bacon, tomatoes, pancake mix, juice, coffee and tea and it is up to you how you want to use it.

Luckily jet lag didn’t really affect me too much and I was up and raring to run early Monday morning.  Wow, you would think I hadn’t run in a month!  It was not pretty.  I’ll choose to blame the heat, humidity and the hills.  Ah yes my friends, the Barossa is not very flat, a piece of information that had escaped me on the drive in the day before.  And even though I was out running around 7 am the heat was definitely something I was not used to.  Oh well, ignore the Garmin and pay attention to the scenery, right?Sheep!  These guys were so noisy that I heard them long before I saw them.Vineyards everywhere… Just one of the big hills, off into the distance.  Imagine rollers like this your entire route.

After my run and some breakfast it was time to get down to business and taste some wine.  Our first stop was at Penfolds.  There certainly is a lot of Penfolds wine available outside of Australia, and they really run the gamut from inexpensive to incredibly expensive.  In fact, their latest release of their top end wine, Grange, retails for almost $700 AUD.  The fun thing about tasting at Penfolds is that they have a lot of wines that are exclusively available at their cellar door.  And would you like to taste one of their $200 wines?  No problem.  I am quite happy to report that they are both extraordinarily yummy.We also wandered over to Henschke and Yalumba.  Yalumba was a wee bit intimidating as they had a massive book of wines that they make and that you can taste.

Once we were done tasting for the day we stopped in a small butcher shop to pick up some sausages, went back to the cottage to grill them up, fed the ducks, and called it a day.  Not a bad start to things in the Barossa!

Getting to the Barossa

Friday - Sunday

Merry Christmas all!  So much has been going on, but thanks to a decisive lack of internet I haven’t really sat down to write about it.  I left Calgary on Friday night for a marathon journey to Australia.  The plan was to fly Calgary – Vancouver – Sydney – Adelaide.  I’d meet my folks in Sydney, we’d fly to Adelaide together, then hop in a car and drive to the Barossa.  It was an interesting trip – flight delays out of both Calgary and Vancouver and what wound up being a very tight connection in Sydney.  Drunk row mates who ask you in line for immigration if they look okay.  Sure…if you ignore the completely bloodshot eyes…  But thanks to a little bit of luck I made it to Adelaide on time and nearly cankle free thanks to a pair of fuchsia Recovery Socks.

So in true Runner Leana family vacation style, we hopped in the rental car and took off south of Adelaide to the McLaren Vale to hopefully catch one wine tasting before things closed down.  We made it to d’Arenburg for an absolutely lovely tasting.  Their wine is pretty readily exported and more than likely you can find their Stump Jump series in your local wine shop.

After running through the wines at d’Arenburg things were starting to close down (it was about 4:30), so we stopped at a restaurant for a bit of dinner first.  A lamb pizza with tzatziki on top, plus another meat lovers type.

And with that, it was time to make our way back to Adelaide and on to the Barossa!

Brain not quite in game…

Final push through to big project due date on Friday, so here are a few thoughts in bullets:

• Hit up the Y for a run on the treadmill Monday night.  Still around –28C on this day!  My brain was apparently not capable of running on the treadmill on Sunday and Monday because wow…it was hard!  20 minutes.
• Got my H1N1 shot on Monday and I felt a wee bit icky on Tuesday.
• Brain so not capable of handling spinning on Tuesday either.  I probably wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t actually have to pick my bike up from Bow Cycle.
• Speaking of bike, derailleur has been repositioned, plus it has been spiffed up with some new bar tape and elbow pads.  Yay!
• Icky + preoccupied + tired = terrible spin.  If I was at home I would have gotten off the bike halfway through and called it a day.  But you can’t quite do that in class, right?
• At the end of the day it was worth sticking around though because we all went out for beverages and nachos to celebrate the last spin of 2009.  So much fun to hang out with the group!! 
• It is 0C out now…it almost feels like shorts weather after all this –20-something stuff!
• By this time on Friday I’ll be on my way overseas!  I have visions of warm weather runs in shorts and swims in outdoor pools in my head.  So can’t wait!

Sorry for the totally discombobulated post…catch up with you all soon!

Six Things for Sunday

Number 1

A little while ago I decided to upgrade my TV in my living room. I had a 30-something inch Acer that had been given to me, but it used to be a demo TV and the screen has issues. So when Costco was running a deal on a 40 inch Samsung LCD, plus get a Samsung blu-ray player for an extra $100 it seemed like a good deal. But now I had four TVs. The first TV I got when I moved away from home that is upstairs in my bedroom. The upgrade to TV number one, a 27” Sony flat screen that is hanging out in my garage for trainer workouts. Plus the Acer and the new Samsung. Four TVs for one person seems a bit excessive, right?

Number 2

So I put an ad out to sell the 27” Sony last week. And here is the response I got back from someone:

“I am looking for a TV to donate to an elderly gentleman in a nursing home. As he doesn't have any family in Calgary nor does it appear he has anyone to visit him, he is always striking a conversation with people going by to find out the highlights of hockey games - for which he is very interested in and loves the game. Due to his eyesight not being what it used to be, he is unable to read the paper. Therefore, a thought was to try to find this gentleman a TV so he can enjoy watching a game and bring a little pleasure over the holiday season.”

So he came by and picked up the TV yesterday, and I’m happy that I was able to give it to someone who will get some enjoyment out of it.  The Acer is now hanging out in the garage.

Number 3

Things have been a little bit…arctic…in Calgary this week! Work (and a few fun activities too) sucked up all my time and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday wound up being rest days. Unless you count a bunch of walking that I did to get to meetings or pick up Christmas presents. It has been in the minus teens and twenties around here with snow falling off and on for what seems like about three weeks straight now. November was so beautiful that December is a bit of a shock.

Number 4

I managed to knock off a great trainer ride on Saturday morning. It involved a bunch of gear pyramids, which are always fun, and took me 55 minutes. Later in the day I dropped my bike off at Bow Cycle to have a few things adjusted – the derailleur needed to be repositioned as the chain was rubbing on it. An easy fix though. She’s also getting some new bar tape and will be cleaned and shined up.

Number 5

It would feel wrong to not run once all week, so I made it to the Y just as they were opening up at 7 am. Given that it was -28C (-18F) outside a treadmill run was really the only option. At least I got to run in shorts though! I hopped on for 30 fun filled minutes. I kept cranking up the speed as the run went along and watched the visual display show me as a little red dot running around a track. Talk about boring! You are running on a treadmill, visualizing yourself running round and around on a track…

Number 6

And reserves are coming along. Everyone keeps asking how they are going but it is really hard to quantify. The best I can say is that they HAVE to be done by December 18^th. And that I’m getting on a plane at 8 pm on December 18^th. And that I’ll most likely pass out the entire way after being so sleep deprived for so long..!!

Hope you guys had a great weekend!

Really sockin’ it to my legs!

Wow…if my legs weren’t mad at me before after yesterday’s stair workout, they definitely are now!  Tonight’s spin class with Angie was intense!!  We had a big strength night.

14 minutes of single leg exercises.
10 minutes of alternating 30 seconds standing, 30 seconds sitting…simulating a big, long hill climb.
Big gear pyramids – 1:00, teeny rest, 2:00, teeny rest, 3:00 all in a big gear.
2 x 4 minutes at a 40K time trial effort.
1 minute big gear intervals.
Somewhere in there we also fit in some squats off the bike.

It was a tough workout, but I loved every minute of it.  In fact, when we were doing the 30/30 stand/sit exercise Angie looked at her sheet and proclaimed that surely she couldn’t have meant 10 minutes.  Tara and I looked at each other and said that we’ll need to be able to climb for longer than 10 minutes at Ironman Canada, so let’s go for it!  I’m sure some of the folks in my class were shooting daggers my way, but honestly that part of the workout was probably my favourite.  Closely followed by 14 minutes of single leg.

Another one of my favourite parts of the class?  The music!  Every few weeks Richelle e-mails me and asks for spin class song suggestions.  We used one of Richelle’s playlists, and it sounded like a Leana’s greatest hits evening!  If I hadn’t suggested a particular song to Richelle there was a 99% chance that I had that song on my iPod already.  I was singing and bobbing my head the entire class.  It was awesome!!  What was on the playlist?

Darude – Sandstorm (taking me back to 2001…), Kevin Rudolph – Welcome to the World, Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Dawn of the Dead, Guru Josh – Infinity, Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling, The Watchmen – Stereo

…and plenty more that are slipping my mind at the moment… 

And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to attempt to crawl up the stairs to get to bed!

Up and up, round and round

Fact: If it is –20C out I am willing to pay $25 to park in a heated parkade that connects directly to my office building so that I don’t have to go outside.  Ridiculous, no?

Since it is so cold outside running isn’t an option for me.  It would be great to head to the Y over lunch and use a treadmill or the track, but it is a bit far away from my office.  So instead, why not work with what you have available?
I work in a pretty tall office tower, so I decided to hit the stairs for a workout over lunch today. It is kind of like an indoor Grouse Grind workout!  Besides just straight walking up the stairs I got ideas for other exercises here and here.  I warmed up by walking up about five flights of stairs, then I started in on all different kinds of squats, lunges, calf raises, tricep dips and push ups.  With no air movement in the stairwell it doesn’t take long to start huffing and puffing and working up a sweat.  There was another girl I ran into a couple of times and she was just walking up and up…  I would alternate strength rounds with a few runs up flights.  After making it up about 33 flights I took the elevator down and started again, this time walking up 25 flights all in one go.

So all in all a great workout!  I almost wish I had worn a heart rate monitor to see the kind of numbers I put up.  40 minutes in the stair well and now I’m sure that my legs are very mad at me!

Snow Day!

When I say I’m taking a hiatus, apparently that means less than a week…  But I had to share some of the craziness from this weekend!  On Friday we had a winter storm warning – up to 20 cm (~8 in) of snow and wind gusts up to 50 – 70 km/hr (30 – 44 mph).  Nuts!  At 3 pm our VP sent an e-mail out to the entire company basically telling us to go home.  Here’s the scene as I left my office:
Luckily the drive home wasn’t as bad as last Friday’s – that one took 90 minutes and it was a skating rink the entire way.  This Friday’s was only about 40 minutes, although there were a couple of white knuckle moments along the way…  I even saw a couple of cyclists making their way home in this snowy mess!

On Saturday I hoped to knock out a spin workout then go into the office.  I was up at 5:30 and on my bike in the garage soon after.  I ran through a pretty good workout that was a lot of high spinning stuff, followed by some standing strength moves.  I spun for about an hour and I followed it up with some core work.  I turned on the radio and the RCMP were telling people to only make trips if absolutely necessary, but otherwise to stay home.  Me being the fraidy cat that I am I decided that a trip to the office wasn’t worth the risk of getting in an accident or getting my car stuck because it was just nuts outside!  Instead I watched Star Trek…Pirates of the Caribbean…and just took it easy.  As the day went on the temperatures plunged so it became even more brutal outside!

So cue Sunday…and since it was so cold outside there was no way i was going to attempt a run.  -18C and –30C with the wind chill.  Brr!!  And definitely not in all that snow!
So I got back on the trainer for another one hour ride.  It was ironically more of the same…one leg drills, lots of high cadence and some big gear low cadence stuff.  I have to admit that having the new bike to spin on makes these indoor training rides a whole lot more enjoyable!  After that I managed to make my way downtown and put in a few solid hours at the office.
Tomorrow?  It is still going to be freezing!!  I have an idea for a different workout I can do over lunch though so I can still stay warm!

Be Back Soon…

Hey folks…it may be a bit quiet over here for a bit.  My couple of projects at work are going to be sucking a lot of my time in the next couple of weeks.  Workouts will happen when they can and I’m going to guess that you won’t want to hear about all of the fun hours at the office I’ll be putting in.  So…nose to the grindstone between now and my big deadline on December 18th.

So just in case you are wondering what I’m up to, this post from last year probably sums it up!  Last year I logged over 60 hours of overtime in 2.5 weeks…so let’s see what happens this year.

I promise that there will be some exciting things to say after December 18th though.  Here’s a hint…

Image Credit

A Killer Leg Workout!

I made it to spin class at Bow Cycle tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks!  No lie, I was so excited to ride tonight since I’d be on my new bike!  Coach Angie had one heck of a routine in store for us too.  It was strength night tonight.  We did some big gear single legs (2 minute intervals!!!), some more intervals where we would push big gears then get off the bike and do squats and repeat, plus some zone 4 intervals.  My legs were feeling that workout, especially the squats!!  Wow…  Riding felt amazing and it was really comfortable on the bike.  Angie pushed us hard, I was focused yet smiling the entire way through.  Despite the hard workout it felt like the entire ride flew by, as did the core workout afterward.  After that I came home, kicked my feet up and enjoyed a little hot chocolate with marshmallows.  Perfect evening!

Brick, run…er…swim??

I promise, I have gotten in a couple of workouts in the past few days!

Sunday Brick

I spent part of Saturday getting my bike ready to ride.  Sunday morning it was time to hop on!  I loaded up my Garmin Edge 305 with a great workout called Improve Your Torque 101.  The original plan had been to head over to Tara’s house Friday night and spin in her basement, but that plan wound up falling through.  A storm blew through in the afternoon that turned roads in to skating rinks so by the time I made it home I wasn’t going anywhere.  The workout looked like a good one though, so I ran through it on Sunday morning on my own in my garage.  It was a lot of strength stuff – long single leg drills in a big gear and some intense gear pyramids – my favourite as opposed to high cadence spins!  It was a great 65 minute workout.

As for the bike?  Once I greased up the chain and ran it through its gears the shifting was really smooth.  Overall the fit seems pretty good, although the seat feels like it is angled a little too far forward.  I am loving the new ride, although I really wish the weather hadn’t turned quite yet so that I could have gotten in a test ride outdoors!

After I hopped off the bike I changed into running gear and went out for a quick 20 minute brick run.  Okay, the duration of the run might have been quick, but my pace was not!  It was still really icy out after Friday’s storm so I concentrated more on where my feet were going instead of what my pace was.  Once my workout was done it was time to head off to the Grey Cup!

Run

The weather on Monday was interesting…  We had a really narrow window of time where it was actually nice outside.  Luckily that window happened to be over the lunch hour.
I threw on some capris, a long sleeve top and a short sleeve top and took off on 5K out and back run.  It was windy out…really windy…  And this was probably my last chance to run in capris in Calgary this year.  I can’t complain too much as November was a pretty phenomenal month here.  The run went well.  After I grabbed some food and went back to my office to stretch I took a look outside and all of a sudden it was snowing.  Sunny one minute, white out conditions the next.  Gotta love that crazy Calgary weather!  At least I made it outside for my run at just the right time!

Er…swim?

Sigh…I have come to the conclusion that I am not a 9 pm workout kind of girl.  5:30 am swim times agree with me a whole lot more, as by 9 pm I’d prefer to be in my pyjamas and gearing up for bed.  Plus when you start to get poor road conditions due to snow the late night drive out to Cochrane actually scares the bejeebus out of me.  Snow, deer that dart out in front of you…feel free to make fun but it really does scare me.  So…sad to say…let’s call a spade a spade and just agree that I’ll be swimming in the mornings from now on.  Sorry coach… :(