Strides in the Snow

I finished up this week with a 45 minute run with 20 to 30 seconds of strides every 5 minutes.  Strides are essentially accelerations where I am supposed to focus on fast feet and high cadence, landing mid foot, maintaining a slight forward lean without breaking at the hips and using my arms to keep the cadence up with my feet.

Whenever I have a workout like this I like to run downtown by the river since the pathway is reasonably flat.  I also had a swim on the schedule too, so that would work out perfectly.  Well, except for the fact that I woke up feeling like I had swallowed a pack of razor blades.

Lovely.

Oh, and it was –12C (10.4F).

I went from thinking I’d just swim, to waiting a bit to let it warm up to see what happened, to deciding that I really wanted to run.  Finally I got going and made my way downtown where it was still –12C and it was snowing.  I ran west along the river and as people ran towards me they had the strangest looks on their faces.  They were squinting.  They looked uncomfortable.  And here I was heating up and unzipping my top for a little extra ventilation.  When I made it half way and turned around I now understood.  The wind was blowing and it was chilly.  My throat wasn’t sore by this point in time but it sure was making my chest feel pretty uncomfortable.  Somewhere along the way I decided that I wasn’t quite up for the swim anymore and that a run was good enough for me.  So there we go, 45 minute run done along the snow covered pathway downtown.

After Beth analysed my food log the first task she gave me this week was to focus on refuelling within 30 minutes of a workout.  It has taken some planning in advance, but it seems to be working out well.  They key is to include some carbs and some protein in my post-workout snack.  I brought some cottage cheese with pineapple downtown with me that I scarfed down with some tea when I was done.  That sure was a winning combination, especially the tea after the cold run!

What do you guys have as a snack after a workout?

Fleshing Out 2010

Earlier this week I went race registration happy!  I’ve registered for all but three of my races in 2010 and into 2011 so the year is coming together.  There isn’t a ton of difference for the most part between last year and this year!  Here’s what I’ve got on tap:

• St. Patrick’s Day Road Race – 10K (03/13) – This will be my fourth year doing this race!  I love it.  It is a double loop around the University of Calgary, you get Irish stew after the race, beer for purchase, and a chance to win your weight in beer.  Maybe this year will be my year to take home the big prize!
• Glencoe Icebreaker 10K (04/11) – I raced this for the first time last year.  It is a really difficult race to get into as race registrations need to be dropped off in person at the Glencoe Club.  The route is beautiful one through south Calgary with the absolute most amazing breakfast at the end.  Plus there are some amazing draw prizes!
• Calgary Police Half Marathon (04/25) – After I raced the Calgary Police Half last year I might have said that I had no desire to do this race again.  It is hilly and tough.  But I’d like to run a half marathon in the spring…and before triathlon season starts…so this one is a good fit.
• Wine Capital of Canada Olympic Triathlon (05/16) – This was my first Olympic triathlon last year and I’m going back to give this one another shot.  It is in Oliver, BC.  This one is a great early season race since Tuc-el-Nuit lake is fairly shallow and warms up early on in the spring.
• Chinook Olympic Triathlon (06/19) – This will be my first new race this year.  Last year I race the Wasa Lake Olympic Triathlon around this time.  This year I opted to stay local for my second Oly of the year.  I have a couple teammates who are going to be at this race, including Tara, one of my Ironman partners in crime!  Should be fun!
• Great White North Half Iron Distance Triathlon (07/04) – I absolutely loved this race last year.  The organizers put on a great event and I figured this would be a great warm up before getting into super heavy Ironman training.
• Ironman Canada (08/29) – Ironman.  My A race.  Enough said!
• Melissa’s 10K Road Race (09/25)* – Another race that I absolutely love!  This will also be my fourth year doing this race.  Registration hasn’t opened, so fingers crossed I get in!
• Last Chance Half (11/14)* – Wow…this would be my third year in a row doing this race.  Fingers crossed I register for this one before it fills up though!
• WDW Family Fun Run 5K* + the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World in 2011…

There we go…that is my year in a nutshell!  Any of my blogger buds in for any of these races?  I think Keith may be.  Maybe he and I will finally get a chance to meet one of these days!

Through the spring the plan is for a couple of running races to keep things interesting.  The races from May through August are all about building towards Ironman.  I probably won’t be tapering for any of those Olympics…maybe not even Great White North?  But it gives me a chance to get some open water in and practice race strategies.  Should be a great year!  And on that note…can you believe that January is almost over??

Keep strong, keep standing.

Tonight’s workout at Bow Cycle was another doozy!  Just when I think that Angie couldn’t find new ways to push us she does!  We had another strength based workout tonight that was based off of standing and surging.  Lots of single leg and a whole lotta standing.  We did a simulated hill climb with 2 minutes of low cadence then a minute standing.  We also did 3 x 3:00 standing intervals.  My legs were shaking!  All said and done it was about 1:45 on the bike.  I was worried I would fall into a crumpled heap on the floor when I tried to get off my bike.  Tomorrow is going to be interesting going up and down stairs!

Often Richelle asks me for song suggestions for spinning class.  Lately she’s had a few good ones, but she hasn’t sent me her list.  I kept my iPhone handy and every time a song came on that I liked I tagged it with the super handy Shazam app.  My friend Kelly was also wanting me to note any songs that she liked.  I’m not one to play around with my phone during exercise but it came in handy at a few points tonight (including updating my FB status as soon as the workout was done…sorry Angie!).

On a completely different note, something strange and weird happened as I was loading my bike into my car before heading to spin class.  My garage door was up and a lady driving a minivan drove around the roundabout outside my house and stopped.  She got out and wondered if she could ask me some questions.  She was wondering if people in my area had kids or not.  She said she was leaving her husband and she thought she could afford a place around here, but she has three kids.  I didn’t really know what to say since I was pretty shocked that she was so forthright.  I chatted with her briefly then wished her luck with her decision.  She told me that, yes, she had to leave because it wasn’t safe for her or the children and she really needed to get out.  I didn’t really know what to say.  If I would have known her I probably could have given her advice but I didn’t know what to say to this stranger that just revealed this to me.  I feel like I maybe dropped the ball here.  I hope she and her family will be okay…  What would you have done?

What makes me happy?

Keith tagged me (sort of) to tell you ten things that make me happy.

1. My amazing family who supports everything that I do, be it moving from Canada to Texas and back again or my crazy racing endeavours!
2. My fantastic friends who encourage me.
3. Hot chocolate with marshmallows after a hard workout.
4. Snow on the trees that turn this city into a winter wonderland.
5. Living in a city that experiences all four seasons (often times more than once a year).
6. An insane bike workout that makes me want to barf.  Really.
7. Seeing things on my bike that I never would have seen if I were in a car.
8. Hearing my 2.5 year old niece scream “Auntie!!!!” whenever she sees me.
9. Learning new things about myself as I push for new endurance goals.
10. Realizing that every decision I have made in my life had its purpose and was ultimately the right one.  I would not trade any of my experiences over the years for anything no matter what.

Plus Badgergirl also tagged me and gave me the Beautiful Blogger award!  Thanks!!I’m supposed to tell you seven random facts about myself.  Boy…some of these I may have mentioned before so let’s see what I can come up with…

1. I hated my name as a kid and honestly thought my parents had made it up until I discovered it in a baby name book when I was in fifth grade.  FI or the record, it is pronounced Leigh-Anna.
2. I had my drivers license for over six months before I drove an automatic transmission vehicle.
3. I participated in a Biggest Loser challenge at work over several months of the year last year.  The final weigh in was the week that I got back from my big vacation for Lake Stevens and Ironman Canada…and well…we all know how we eat on vacation.  I almost didn’t weigh in, but luckily I did…and my team wound up winning.
4. I subscribe to 148 different blogs in Google Reader.  There are quite a few of them that haven’t posted in awhile though so it may be time to cut it down.  No wonder I always have so many unread posts!!
5. If I could be on any reality show it would be the Amazing Race.  But sadly you have to have an American passport to qualify for the show so you won’t be seeing Runner Leana on there anytime soon.
6. I apparently lose gloves really easily.
7. My puppy dog comes back home this weekend!!  My parents are kind enough to look after him when things at work are crazy busy in December.  I dropped him off in early October though and I miss the little guy!  Thank goodness for Skype!

A Tale of Many Gloves

Gloves…  Pretty important accessories around here in the winter.  I seem to be on quite the kick with gloves lately.  I have a pair of Smartwool gloves that I use every day, although I recently picked up a pair of Lululemon Cheer Me On Mitts that I thought were pretty cute.  New glove count: 1.My friend Debbie lent me some mitts and liners to use for my downhill ski lesson on Thursday.  Debbie is a pretty avid skier so she had some extra mitts that she doesn’t use anymore.  Those mitts worked okay but they were pretty bulky.  They probably wouldn’t work well for XC skiing, so I ventured out to MEC and Coast Mountain Sports in search of suitable gloves.  I picked up one pair at MEC that I need to return (not pictured here), plus a pair of North Face waterproof gloves and some fleece liners.  New glove count: 3.

Back to my downhill lesson.  It was warm enough on Thursday evening that I didn’t really need the outer mitts so I just used the fleece liners.  Those fleece liners were also quite convenient for wiping my nose while I was outside so I told Debbie that I wanted to wash her mitts before returning them.  On Sunday I went to grab those mitts and wash them…and well…what’s wrong with this picture?

I felt SO BAD for losing one of her mitts.  It must have fallen out of my pocket somewhere between taking my ski boots off and walking back to the car.  Those zippered pockets on your jacket do serve a purpose I suppose!  I fessed up to Debbie on Monday morning and she told me not to worry since she got the gloves for free and hasn’t used them in years. 

I then went for a run at lunch.  It was –12C and snowing out when I went out, so I was wearing a short sleeve tech shirt, a lightweight middle layer, my new favourite jacket, hat, gloves, tights and wool socks.  I have a favourite pair of running gloves.  I had gone through a couple pairs of Nike gloves before I found the perfect gloves from Lululemon last year.  In March I was on a run where I stuffed them in my back pocket of my top and they fell out.  I think I went from my run to the Lululemon store to replace them right away as they were slowly disappearing from stores.

Anyhow, back to yesterday’s run…despite the wind and blowing snow it felt pretty nice out there.  In fact as I ran into the wind I heated up.  Time to take the gloves off and open the pit zips on the jacket!  I ran a 30 minute out and back.  Just as I was near the end I reached down to pat my jacket pockets.  Uh oh!!  My left glove was still there but my right pocket was EMPTY!!!  Once again I didn’t do up the zippered pocket!  Debbie laughed at me when I told her the story since I seem to be incapable of hanging on to gloves.  Don’t trust me with your gloves my friends!  Of course that meant an emergency run to Lululemon after work so I could replace my gloves.  I almost bought two pairs given my history.  Sigh…  New glove count: 4.

Any bets on which gloves I’ll lose next?

Fun in the Snow!

This weekend I continued to get out and enjoy the great wintery outdoors here in Alberta!  It was a busy one too, one that required fitting workouts in around life it seemed.  My brother, sister-in-law, niece and I decided on a spur of the moment trip out to the mountains.  Before we could leave on Saturday I had to knock out a one hour run.  So I could get the run done early I opted to run around my neighbourhood.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I am not a huge fan of running the sidewalks around my neighbourhood at this time of year.  Not everyone does a great job of shovelling the snow and often it compacts into a big icy mess.  A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight so I grabbed my Yaktrax.  It was –8C (17F) out, so I opted to wear two long sleeve tech shirts and a jacket.  It was such slow going on the run thanks to me being unsure about my footing.  Yaktrax are great in the snow, but aren’t for running on ice.  Every once in awhile I’d hit a snow covered patch of ice and it would be pretty slippery.  I was a good 1.5 to 2 minutes slower per mile than I normally am.  The run went well despite being really slow though.  I only slipped and fell once!  As soon as I finished running it was time to hurry up and shower and head out to the mountains!

My niece was pretty excited about going out to the mountains.  We stopped off in Canmore for lunch at my favourite brew pub, the Grizzly Paw.  I tried something new on tap, the Unity Brew.  It was a dark rye IPA style beer that 11 microbreweries from around Alberta had gotten together to brew.  All proceeds sold at the Grizzly Paw go towards go towards charity.  Drinking beer for charity?  No problem!

After lunch we headed out to the Ice Magic Festival at Lake Louise.  The festival is a major ice carving competition, with each team getting 15 – 300 lb blocks of ice and having 34 hours to transform it into a minimum 7 ft high sculpture.  This year the theme was Podium Bound - Spirit of the Competition.  I would have loved to see how the sculptures turned out in the end, but it was neat to see the teams in progress too.  Everyone had a sketch so you could see how the finished product was supposed to look.

It was a really fun winter wonderland kind of weekend out in the mountains.  Good times!  We hung out in Banff overnight, checked out the shops on Sunday morning, then grabbed some lunch before heading back to Calgary.  Once I got home it was “hurry up” time in an attempt to finish off the rest of my workouts though!  I still had a brick and a swim on tap.  I hopped on my bike for just over an hour for a workout with plenty of single leg drills, lots of high cadence and then rounding out with some low cadence sets.  By the time I was done I had to make a critical decision.  It was either brick run or swim time.  I needed to leave the house in 20 minutes in order to make it to the YMCA with enough time to swim.  It didn’t give me enough time to change, run then change again so I skipped the run and just went straight to the Y.  Even still I was pushing it to get my workout done in just under an hour.

The swim was a really good one though.  Angie has suggested that I feel free to add paddle work to my workouts in the warm up or cool down.  I found that concentrating on high elbows with paddles makes me really think about taking that into the rest of my swimming.  I got my 2000 m workout done, showered, grabbed some pizza from Mitillini’s on the way home and that was that!

Talk about one full and action packed weekend!  I hope all of you had a good one too!  I’ll be trying to catch up…I have 275 posts in my Google Reader..!!

Now for something completely different!

I promised that I was going to be trying something new today.  Want a hint as to what it was?

I took my first downhill ski lesson this evening!!  I have to admit that I haven’t really dabbled around in winter sports too much.  I’ve tried curling before a few years back, but the last time I played there were disastrous consequences.  Lately I’ve been thinking about trying skiing, particularly cross country skiing, so I’ve been investigating lessons.

But Leana, those would not be the suitable things to put on your feet for cross country skiing, right?

And well…that would be true!  On Tuesday my co-worker announced that he is planning a team building activity in February at a ski hill.  Um, but they only have downhill skiing…  So as I was contemplating downhill and cross country lessons I was looking over Canada Olympic Park’s webpage.  The Olympic Torch Relay has also been running through Calgary this week too.

While the torch has been in town COP has been running a deal on introductory ski and snowboard lessons.  The rentals, hill ticket and lesson were on special for $20.10.  (Get it $20.10…2010???)  It seemed like too good of a deal to pass up and luckily they had room for Thursday’s 5:30 pm lesson. 

So how was it?  Luckily there were a couple of other adults there, but 90% of the class were young kids.  I’m not going to lie, I didn’t exactly unearth any hidden ski talent this evening on the slopes.  Well, unless you count my curious ability to veer towards the trees and then fall down a talent (while your instructor is yelling “Fall!!  Fall!!” at you).  It was fun though, and of course I’ll be giving it another whirl on our group ski trip day.  I’m excited to try cross country though.  I have a feeling that may be more my thing?  But we’ll see!

***By the way, I apologize but I put word verification back up.  I was getting a bit tired of the spam comments so I thought it was necessary.  I know it is a pain though!

Pull…whoosh…

There are so many reasons why I love working with Angie, and tonight is just another example.  She seems to know exactly what I need.  It was my turn to swim out in Cochrane again tonight and as I ran out the door I sent Angie a text message, “I need you to kick my butt tonight.”  I had a few things on my mind and it was either going to be a really, really good swim or it was going to be a really ugly swim.

I’ve used paddles before, but only on my own.  I ran through 3 x 150m set with paddles and this is the first time Angie has seen me swim with them.  After she watched me she urged me to to really concentrate on high elbows as opposed to my usual reaching around and not catching the water.

As I swam I breathed and listened to the sound of the paddles.
Pull…whoosh…pull…whoosh…pull…whoosh…
High elbows…high elbows…high elbows…
Think…think…think…about the paddles.  Think about your lats working.

After that we went into a hypoxic set.  No pull buoy, and 50 metre sets of breathing every third then every fifth stroke.  Then every third and seventh.  And I even tried every third and ninth for one length.  Let me tell you, when you aren’t breathing it really forces you to think about your stroke.  And apparently that is the key to get me to stroke faster!!

Quick…1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,BREATHE!!!

From there we went into on heckuva kick set…which was interesting after our intense bike session last night!!  Yeah, it was a fun night and totally just what I needed.  Loved the paddle set!!!

I left my legs at Bow Cycle

Tonight was spin class at Bow Cycle.  Our group seems to have gotten bigger in the new year as people are keen to get back at it in preparation for outdoor riding.  Tonight’s workout was a serious doozy!  Angie must have had some caffeine before the class or something!

We started with a warm up of a cadence pyramid.  I knew it was going to be a workout when I hit a heart rate on the warm up that I normally only see during the hard parts of a typical workout.

We rolled through some pretty intense hill workouts on the trainer.  We did low cadence, hard gearing for two minutes, then geared down slightly (but only slightly) but kept the effort strong like we were cresting the hill.  We ran through 8 of those and I really pushed it.  It was good stuff!  After that we ran through…what I think was…1:00 hard/2:00 easy.  The gearing was tough during the hard set and we were supposed to push all out.  It was nearly barf inducing!!  Hmm, this is starting to look like a theme for this week!  I rode next to a guy who was there for his first spin class.  Talk about an initiation to Angie’s class!

I’ve got to say I love these low cadence strength type workouts!  I feel like I work really hard on them and that it will help me out once it is time to get back outside and ride!  My legs were toast…it was difficult to pry myself off the couch when I got home in order to go upstairs to the kitchen to get a recovery snack.

Mike had asked what the temperatures are around here these days.  We’ve been really lucky here in Calgary lately and it has been really nice – around the 30 deg range.  There is still a ton of ice and snow around though, even though we haven’t had snow fall around here for a couple of weeks.  It looks like we are in for a slight change in the next few days though…

Stay tuned later this week.  I’m trying something completely new and off the wall for me.  Gulp…I just hope it goes well!!!!  I’m a little nervous…

Doing the Log

Nutrition.  They say it is the fourth discipline in triathlon.  With this being my Ironman year I knew nutrition was something that I needed to get in check.  Since half way through university I’ve done this yo-yo thing, up 15 lbs, down 15 lbs.  Back and forth.  Training for endurance races has definitely kept things in check, but that didn’t mean that I’ve doing everything right.  And then…well…training less in the last part of 2009 had a bit of an impact, along with a high amount of stress.

I contacted Beth Shutt at The Athlete's Eutrophia.  Beth is a triathlete so she understands our complex nutritional needs – balancing healthy eating and proper fuelling.  I am so excited to be working with Beth!!  We chatted on the phone about my goals, where I’ve been and where I’m going.  The next order of business was to complete my food log.  Marni had a great post on keeping a food log last week and it was such a timely post.  I tried to be really detailed with what I recorded.  How hungry was I when I ate?  What time did I eat at?  What and how much? 

I realized a lot of interesting things keeping this log.  I found that I really paid attention to portion sizes as I was eating.  Other things I noted:

• When I'm at work and sitting at my desk I am a lot more tuned into how hungry I am.  I'm often wondering, "What time is it?  Am I hungry?  Should I have a snack?"  On the weekend when I'm running around or doing things around the house that definitely isn't the case.  Perhaps this sitting still in front of the computer has a lot to do with it?
• I am terrible about remembering to take vitamins.  Keeping track of them in the food log reminded me.  But that being said, I really have no clue which ones I should be taking.
• I also thought a lot more about drinking water throughout the day.  Well, during the week anyway.  In fact I was so good about drinking water that it felt like there were never ending trips to the bathroom!  Luckily I managed to make it through the nearly 3 hour showing of Avatar on Friday night.  I am not so good about it on the weekend, although I pretty well already suspected that.
• I'll be honest, I probably have a few more sweets during your typical day than when I was logging.  Um…hence why I have some work to do…

So the log is now in Beth’s hands!  It will be really interesting to see what she has to say.  Time to get this nutrition thing on track!!

Dizzy, dizzy…

Wow, it is amazing the difference a few hours can make! Today was a 30 minute run that I knocked out over my lunch break. I will be honest, I had been feeling a little dizzy off and on during the morning (this time not related to food though). I waited a bit before getting going, but once I started running I felt amazing! The tired and heavy legs of yesterday were gone. Running in the sunshine felt terrific!

There is an underpass on the pathway that had been blocked off lately thanks to layers of ice and snow from where the river had risen up at one point. They must have brought one heck of a plough through to clear that pathway! There were massive chunks of ice just off the pathway and it was crazy. I really do need to take my camera out there one of these days…I may have said that before… Anyhow, definitely a great run with no dizziness issues on the run.
*****
Have you ever looked at a workout and felt like throwing up just as you read it? That’s pretty well how I felt when I saw my swim workout for tonight! It involved a whole lot of 6 kick rolls, head lead side kick, arm lead side kick… Just seeing that made me feel dizzy so I found a different workout to do instead that didn’t involve quite so much rolling around, more regular swimming.

I need to develop some kind of habit and I think that is going to be making swimming in the evening during the week a regular thing. Checking out the schedule at the YMCA this evening my best bet was to show up at 8 pm this evening. I slipped into one of the slow lanes. In the medium lane next to me were two guys swimming. One guy was wearing some fancy pants Michael Phelps style full leg swimsuit. He was doing butterfly up and down the pool. Up and down. The other guy was swimming behind him to check out his stroke.

I had a warm up of 200 m swim/200 m kick/200 m swim. I kept losing count on my kick set because I was too busy watching the butterfly guy. It really was a beautiful thing to watch.

The workout wound up being a pretty good one. I had a pretty good feel for the water and it went well. 2000 m done. I think. I did keep losing count after all!

Legs…where are you???

Sigh, I maybe was not the smartest cookie with my workouts this weekend.

Exhibit #1:

I actually slept in on Saturday morning, as in, I woke up at 10:00 am.  Does anyone else wake up at 10:00 am on the weekend and suddenly think, “oh no, the day is over!”  I do! 

Oh well, I got up and chatted with my parents on Skype (who just made it home from their around the world vacation) so I could say hi to my fur ball Finlay.  I have missed that little character!  With any luck he’ll be back here soon.  By the time that was done I figured I’d spin instead of do my run/swim combo that was on my schedule.  It was a really good spin too that involved a lot of low cadence strength work.  4 x 5 min of hard low cadence (between 60-70 rpm) and after each interval I’d get off the bike and do squats for 1.5 minutes.  After my first interval I realized that I had been a bit of a weenie on the gearing/trainer tension so after that I really socked it to my legs.  I just kept telling myself that this was what I needed to build towards riding that tough Ironman Canada course!  On my last set of squats my legs were shaking…

It was a great spin workout, but on Sunday when I started running I realized that I would have been much better off if I hadn’t swapped those two workouts around.  My legs were beat!  Thankfully, I only had a 45 minute run to do, but the pace wasn’t quite as good as last week’s 45 minute run.  Surprisingly I actually ran one of my most evenly paced runs ever though.  Hmm.

Exhibit #2

I finished my run right at the YMCA and went inside to change for my swim.  I had eaten lunch at 1 pm, started running at 3 pm and hopped in the pool at 4 pm.  As I was showering before getting in the pool I remembered that I had a chocolate mint GU in my gym bag that I had meant to eat, but I didn’t want to run back to my locker since I was now soaking wet.  So I jumped in the pool instead.

First off, it was a bit of a gong show when I got there.  The 25m pool is completely roped off with lanes for aqua-jogging, and slow, medium and fast lanes.  But there were people who were bobbing around and playing at the end of one of the medium lanes.  I grabbed the other medium lane just as its other two inhabitants were leaving.  There was a guy in the fast lane powering through workout next to me.  Just as I was getting in two kids (in boxer shorts????  yuck…) jumped into the fast lane and started clowning around in it, thoroughly pissing off the guy who was swimming there.  I’m not sure if words were exchanged or not, but the swimmer took off soon and eventually the kids went back to the training pool.

Anyhow, I only had an 1800 m workout on my schedule but I had absolutely no juice.  It was one slow go from one end of the pool to the other.  I should have taken that GU!  I decided I was tired of trudging through the workout at 1000 m and called it a day.

Hopefully I’ve learned a few lessons from the weekend!  And, finally!!!  My Christmas tree came down yesterday!  I have to admit that my living room feels somewhat bare without it though.  Happy Monday all!

Mind Over Matter

Wednesday night was swim class time.  I mentioned before that my friend Tara and I are splitting this session.  She had e-mailed me to let me know that she couldn’t go this week so this was my night to go swim.  Time to get the mind in gear so it would know that we were swimming at 9 pm and that was that.  No other option!

Last week I grabbed a coffee in the early evening to make sure I’d be awake for that 9 pm swim.  On Wednesday I didn’t even have any caffeine in the afternoon!  (I know this for sure because I started keeping a food log yesterday, but more on that at another time…)  I was really taking a chance by not having had any form of caffeine since…oh…10:30??

I came home, made dinner and sure enough, come 8 pm I started to feel a little sleepy.  Mind over matter though as it was time to push through.  Last just a little longer and I’d have to leave for swimming.  Wouldn’t you know it, I made it out the door and to the pool!  I swam and it was okay.  Not great, but okay.  I couldn’t quite get the feel of the water.  I’m not sure if it was because I had swum Tuesday morning or if it was because the lane I was swimming in felt super narrow.  Somehow or other I still made it through 2000 m so that wasn’t too bad.  I came home and followed what will likely become my new post-evening swim ritual.  Hot chocolate (with Ovaltine actually) with a couple of marshmallows in bed with Ratatouille in the DVD player.  I probably fell asleep within 10 minutes of the light going off.  Ratatouille….works like a charm every time!

Thursday was a 40 minute run.  I threw my gear in a bag to take to work so I could run over lunch, but I was about 15 minutes away from work when I realized my Garmin was at home.  Sitting right by the computer which is a pretty useful place for it!  I’ll admit it, when I had this realization my heart rate went up a notch.  I <3 my Garmin!  Not because I like to look at it all the time during my run, but I love having a map showing where I went…the graphs that show how hard I worked…all catalogued nicely on SportTracks.

Oh well, while I may like this data I sure wasn’t turning around to get the Garmin.  And I wasn’t putting my run off until later in the day since it was going to be so nice out over lunch!  So I kicked it old school and ran 40 minutes with my Timex.  In some ways it was quite liberating to not worry about pace in the slightest.  But that doesn’t mean I intend to leave my Garmin at home intentionally any time soon!!

140.6 Reasons to do an Ironman

A friend sent this to me today.  If you cry watching the Ironman on TV then this may make you cry too.

140.6 Reasons to do an Ironman:
001. Makes everything else seem so SHORT.
002. The 3 week taper before the race.
003. The 4 week recovery after the race.
004. To reach down and find strength you never knew was there.
005. As much Pizza as you can eat. (and my coach can’t say no)
006. To find out who you really are.
007. Beats watching the new Survivor, Big Brother, or anything else on TV.
008. For all the times you heard someone say "I'd do one of those ... I just can't swim."
009. Sunset in Madison.
010. Because I've told everyone I one day will be an Ironman.
011. Mike Reilly's hoarse voice still bringing people home at 11:30pm
012. The Massage Tent - anywhere.
013. My friends waiting for me at the finish line,
014. For the ones that believed
015. ...and the ones that didn't.
016. Chalk on the road.
017. Easy rides and runs the week before.
018. Finishing your last workout and smiling because you know "I'm SO ready."
019. For everyone who has ever asked you "Why?"
020. For the teachers in school who told you you'd amount to nothing and to silence the one voice inside your head that still believes that bunk
021. The view from Richter Pass (IM Canada)
022. You want to test the endurance limits of the iPod music collection in your head.
023. Creating your own, "Amazing Race."
024. Spectators looking up your name and cheering as you plod past at sunset.
025. Where else can someone ripping off your clothes in public be considered a benefit ? (Wetsuit Strip)
026. Miles in the Run
027. See the world and eat the food in each country, guilt free.
028. So you can answer "One." When people ask "How many days does that take?"
029. To wave at the scuba divers.
030. To backstroke and wave at the TV helicopter.
031. Encouraging Cards in your special needs bags.
032. Encouraging Cards in your T1 and T2 bags.
033. Chicken broth and coke, ultimate power cocktail
034. Chicken broth (Yes - it's worth 2 by itself)
035. To one day show your child what he or she can do...and at an earlier age than you.
036. The view from Lake CDA. (Ironman Coeur D Alene)
037. One step further to your dream.
038. Because I gave up ice cream to do this!!!!!!!!
039. Driving the bike course in a caravan of friends, again and again.
040. Valet Parking and Catering ... all day long.
041. You might get on TV
042. To gain the confidence to do anything.
043. To have the confidence to say yes or to say no.
044. Takes as long as having a baby, nearly as satisfying, only without the morning sickness and the 21 years of bills that follow.
045. Flying with a bike case makes business trips seem EASY.
046. Sharing a smile with people wearing the finishers T-shirt the next day.
047. Knowing that as you step in the water on race day - YOU MADE IT THIS FAR! Now just get home.
048. How many people can say they did anything for 12,13, 14, 15, 16...hours?
049. Knowing that you are running the same race as Kate Major, Desiree Ficker, Chris Leigh, Cameron Brown, etc.
050. The wristband that somehow becomes your favourite fashion accessory.
051. So that when you tell your grandchildren stories about what you did when you were young...yours will be true.
052. Running along the ocean in Oceanside, CA.
053. High fives from people you don't know.
054. The Sponge as a fashion statement
055. Because even when you are hurting, you can still run !
056. Knowing that after the gun goes off, you don't have to worry anymore.
057. First Place and Last Place get the same amount of cheers.
058. Walking to the start with friends...
059. Getting lapped on the bike by Michelle Jones, Chris McCormick, Craig Alexander, Chrissie Wellington...
060. Getting lapped again on the run by Michelle Jones, Chris McCormick, Craig Alexander, Chrissie Wellington......
061. Making the turn for home in Ironman Canada
062. Because MolybdenumMan doesn't trip off the tongue in quite the same way
063. If Judy Molnar can, dammit, so can you.
064. You might get to run with Alexandra Paul!
065. High fiving Daryl Haley, and going backwards 5 feet.
066. Sunset over Lake Coeur d'Alene on the run.
067. If Randy Caddell can do it with just his arms, you can certainly do it with your legs.
068. Easier than Eco-Challenge.
069. Didn't play sports in high school.
070. Because everyone knows you are training and you can't stop now.
071. For all those 4:45am mornings, when you wished your head was still on the pillow.
072. Makes US Navy SEAL training seem like a good idea.
073. You enjoy the smell of chlorine in the morning.
074. You've had enough with your current social life.
075. For the love of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!
076. Your friends are watching on the web.
077. You need to prove to your mom that even if you get on the bike right after you swim...you won't catch a cold.
078. Your ex'es think you are nuts and they actually admire you a bit (secretly).
079. Roadies think you're nuts.
080. Masters swimmers really think you're nuts.
081. Your running club KNOWS you're nuts.
082. To see the Maori Warriors right before IM New Zealand
083. Monday morning swims... you feel like every Monday is the start of a new thing (even though it is not)
084. 3 hour breakfasts after the morning swims
085. To fulfill a dream.
086. To say, "I am an Ironman".
087. The sunflower fields in Madison (IM Wisconsin)
088. Glow sticks on the run close to midnight
089. Silent hugs on the start line.
090. Because Winston Churchill said I can't ever give up.
091. The 12-step program to make me stop hasn't been invented yet.
092. Any National Anthem, before the start, anywhere.
093. Knowing that when you wake up at 4:00am, the next time you go to bed you will be VERY different person.
094. 3 miles down on Main St. (IM Canada)
095. The whole ride of IM New Zealand
096. Because you've always wanted to see how many CD's and towels it would take to ride the whole IM CDA course on the CompuTrainer
097. Makes your next marathon just a nice morning run.
098. To make your Boss jealous because YOU have a life that doesn't involve the office.
099. Because the longer you're out there, the less per hour it really costs!
100. Being there is way better than watching
101. Finding yourself in the middle of your doubts ... finding a new meaning of being scared.
102. Finding out that you're far stronger than those doubts a few miles later.
103. Falling in step on the run and making a friend to the end, without having to say a word.
104. A fried breakfast the day after.
105. Watching people headed home while you're headed out, thinking "I'll be there soon ..." and they cheer for you.
106. Understanding why that is as your cheering for people headed out when you're finally headed home.
107. That feeling of ice cubes in your hat on a hot run never getting too cold.
108. Telling folks with flat tires "It's a long day - hang in there!" and seeing them breathe and smile for a moment.
109. Hearing people cheer you up while your changing a damn flat tire.
110. Rolling into T2 knowing that no matter what - you can't have a flat sneaker from here on in.
111. Having someone catch you, and hold you up when you can't do it anymore.
112. Miles in the Bike.
113. The IV's feel SO good the next day.
114. To see if it really feels as good to do as it does to dream.
115. And then to see if it really feels as good the second time, and the third, and the fourth....
116. To learn the power of commitment and determination.
117. Morning in Panama City (IM Florida).
118. To try and finish in daylight.
119. To try and finish before midnight.
120. To try and NOT get stung by that (*@! bee this time.
121. Your nieces/nephews already think you're a hero - prove them right.
122. Your ex'es don't...but you might prove it to them, too.
123. An M-Dot Tattoo would look swanky on your ankle.
124. 5000 Volunteers - all for you.
125. Hearing them say "You're almost there!" all day long.
126. Being nearly almost there - for real.
127. Chicken broth and coke! (It's been awhile)
128. The finish line.
129. Because your training partners said you were a fighter
130. The first time you think "Holy crap - I'm doing an Ironman!"
131. Beating back the voices that say "Holy crap - you can't do an Ironman!"
132. Mile 26.
133. That moment when you KNOW you're going to make it for the first time all day.
134. Running down Lakeside Avenue. ( IM CDA)
135. Running down Sherman Avenue.
136. THE FINISH LINE
137. The first step after you cross the line and think "Oh, My....God....!"
138. Hearing Mike Reilly say, " You are an Ironman!"
139. The Medal
139.6 Because they said I can't
140.6 Because I say I can.

Working Hard!

Wow, is it really only Tuesday?  Now that January is here I need to be sure I hit my workouts so the game plan at the moment is me getting back in the groove of working out regularly.  I definitely didn’t do enough in December, but its a new year right?  Time to get back on track!

The Run

I had a 30 minute run on the schedule for Monday.  The chinook weather continues here in Calgary so it was another perfect day for a run in capris, a long sleeve and my favourite new jacket.  The legs were a little tired from Sunday’s spin-a-thon but I still managed to crank out a nice 30 minute 5K. 

The Swim

I debated between swimming Monday night and Tuesday morning.  Initially I was pretty keen to swim downtown Monday night just so I can get in the groove of evening swims.  I had to run errands after work though and by the time I made it home I had about half an hour to cook dinner and eat.  Ultimately I didn’t want to be rushed to make it to the pool so I decided to relax and get up at 4:30 am for an early morning swim. 

Can you believe that I just used the words “relax” and “4:30 am” in the same sentence?  Haha!

I tried something new to make sure I wouldn’t sleep through my alarm clock.  I actually have two alarm clocks.  One is a radio that goes off and I wake up to the morning show on the UK’s BBC Radio One thanks to XM Radio.  The second is a really obnoxious and loud Mickey Mouse alarm clock.  I put that alarm clock up on my dresser so that when it went off I would have no choice but to get up and out of bed.  And it worked!  I actually made it to the YMCA five minutes before it even opened.

The swim was a good one.  My workouts involve on focusing on technique a lot.  This would explain the overabundance of one armed drills and 6 kick roll sets.  I sure hope I’m starting to catch on!

The Bike

Spin class tonight was awesome and hard!!  It was a strength night, one of my favourites!  We did some single leg stuff and some super intense pyramids.

• Keep your gearing constant throughout a set of 50 rpm, 60 rpm, 70 rpm and 80 rpm intervals.
• Keep gearing constant and alternate between intervals of 70 rpm and 90 rpm. 

Those things were tough!  All in all I was on the bike for 1:48 and followed it up with 10 minutes of core.  I also tried out a new pair of shorts today, a pair of Cannondale Domestique shorts that I picked up awhile ago.  They were pretty comfy despite the fact that my sit bones were complaining about Sunday’s spin-a-thon…

The Fourth Quarter

A lot of people looked back and did a year in review for 2009.  I didn’t write one for various reasons, mostly because I was away on vacation and had a hard enough time posting about the things I was doing!  2009 was definitely a year with highs and lows.  I managed to set a slew of PRs in all kinds of distances, I raced my first and second Olympic and half Iron distance triathlons, and then I capped my big racing season off with registering for Ironman Canada 2010.  I also ran some races that were really hard.  The Lake Stevens 70.3 did not go how I anticipated it would go at all and it was a really tough race (Part 1, 2 and 3 of my race report).  Kind of a tough way for my “A” race to go, but it happens.  It was a good learning experience towards the ultimate goal of Ironman.

I came home from my Lake Stevens/Washington/Ironman Canada trip and my brain needed a break.  After racing so much from 2007 onwards with no real break I was starting to feel a little burned out.  Once I took a few weeks off I found I was still floundering on motivation.  I didn’t have anything concrete on the horizon to train for.  For the last couple of years I’ve raced at Disney World in January but this year I decided to skip that event for a lot of different reasons:

• I wanted my vacation time to go somewhere else besides Disney this year!
• I didn’t feel the need to run another marathon before Ironman Canada.
• Training through two winters in a row was tough – missed long runs thanks to snow dumps and longer treadmill runs than I would have ever imagined.  Yuck.

I really did miss having that goal to something to train for through the final quarter of the year though.  Work kept me occupied, but since I didn’t feel like I had to get out there and get a run done…it didn’t happen.

I’m sure the post race blues will hit me after Ironman, but I’m setting a goal for myself to keep me motivated through the fall.  It is time for a rematch my friends!  In 2011 I’ll be taking on the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge for the second time!  I always knew I wanted to give it another shot after I raced it in 2008 and 2011 seems like the right time.  After all, I’ll have some idea of how to run a marathon on tired legs by then, right?  And training with my coach Angie will likely make this race a whole other experience!  I’m planning to add on the Family 5K that weekend as well to round out the experience to Dopey proportions.

I’m signed up.  Who else is in? :)

The Charity Spin-a-Thon

Today was Tri-It’s Charity Spin-a-Thon!  Last year’s event was held at the store, but this time the group was large enough that the event was held in the gymnasium of Rundle College.  $65 gave you the chance to ride for 3 or 6 hours, you’d get a swag bag and you’d be helping pro athletes Janelle Morrison and Jordan Bryden.  I had a lot of fun at last year’s event so of course I was in for today’s!  I opted to only ride for three hours in the morning since I had a fair bit I wanted to accomplish later in the day.

After registering and grabbing my swag bag (full of Honey Stinger products, a pack of Ultima lemonade drink mix and a towel) I set my bike up between Tara and Kelly, my partners in crime for Ironman Canada this year.  The set up was really neat – we had a DJ playing tunes for us, plus there was water, Ultima, orange slices, bananas, bagel and cream cheese for us to snack on.  There were several pros out there supporting the event including Scott Curry.  Luke Way was our first instructor and he led us through about 45 minutes of high cadence stuff.  Once Luke’s session was over we spun to the 2007 Ironman World Championship video rather than having another instructed session.  This was terrific!  This gave us a chance to just sit back and spin, catch up with each other and it kind of gave our legs a bit of a break. 

After the video there were giveaways for those folks who paid attention.  I managed to win a pair of socks that say “Save the Ta-Tas” on them for knowing the Chris Lieto won the Timex Bike Bonus that year.  Yay me!

After the video Janelle took us through a 30 minute spin  where we got to work a bit harder.  Unfortunately I left my heart rate monitor at home though, so I don’t have an idea of what I managed to get it up to!  Final ride time was about 2:40.  Once we were done there were Spolumbo’s sandwiches to help us refuel.  All in all a great day!  I had a good workout and managed to catch up with a bunch of friends that I haven’t seen in ages.  I am continually reminded at various triathlon events around town just how great everyone in the community is.  I’ve made some terrific friends through this sport and I am so grateful for that!

**And yes, in response to my last post, the capri running tights come out once we head north of 0C or 32F.  I generally try to under dress for runs and I feel pretty comfortable out there in those temperatures.  I guess in part I just want to make sure that I’m saving my heavy duty winter running gear for those really cold days!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Negatives

Wow, it is January 9th and I’m still sitting here and looking at my Christmas tree.  I’ve got the boxes ready to start putting the ornaments back in, I just haven’t quite gotten around to it.  Hmm, maybe tomorrow with any luck!

Today was quite possibly the perfect Saturday.  Although my alarm went off at 6:30 I wasn’t quite ready to get up.  Finally at 9:30 I tore myself away from the covers, made some breakfast and relaxed watching the final Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  After lounging around for awhile I finally got ready to head out and tackle my workouts for the day.  Yesterday a chinook blew into town so it was a fantastic 6C out.  I decided to run downtown along the river.  It makes the most sense at this time of the year because the city is really good about clearing snow from the pathways throughout the winter.  Running around the neighbourhood can be a bit treacherous as not everyone clears the snow from their walkways (or clears very well) and often it will partially melt then ice over.

My general rule of thumb is that if we are above 0C then I aim to wear capri tights.  I threw those on, a long sleeve tech shirt, and my new favourite jacket.  My run was scheduled for 45 minutes and as soon as I got going I had a feeling it was going to be a good one.  My pace was feeling easy even though I was running into the wind.  The scenery was amazing…I really ought to take my camera with me one of these days.  All of the snow and ice on top of the Bow River is so pretty.  I hit my turn around point before I knew it, and then I was running with the wind at my back.  It must have really helped to push me along as my pace started to drop yet it still felt easy.  I managed a pretty nice negative split and all in all had an excellent run!  Gotta love those days when it actually feels almost easy…

After the run I went into the YMCA, exchanged the running gear for a swimsuit and hopped in the pool for an 1800 meter workout.  It was fairly quiet and I managed to have a lane to myself for almost my entire workout.  The workout really focused on technique as I ran through some single arm drills, finger tip drills and 6 kick roll drills.  Between each drill set I’d have a 200m swim set that I needed to try and negative split while I focused on the technique that each drill tried to teach me.  First off, I have to say that 4 x 50m of single arm…with 50m of single left, 50m of single right…I’m surprised the lifeguards didn’t come over to ask me if I was okay swimming!  Sputter, sputter…try not to drown!  But on the plus side, I managed to negative split every set that I was supposed to.  Good times!

Yup, a great day of workouts.  Hope everyone’s weekend is going well!

Drinking the Kool-Aid: Gear Review

I admit it, I have totally been sucked in by lululemon lately.  I will admit to finding a lot of things quite expensive although I am really happy with the quality of things I’ve bought.  I stopped in when I got home on Monday and I managed to get a great deal on a running jacket – the Run: Velocity Jacket II.  I do have a running jacket, but it is quite lightweight.  I thought that this jacket would see me through some cooler weather runs and I was pretty excited to try it out on my run on Thursday.

It was –25C when I left for work in the morning, but there were promises of the day warming up to a whopping –7C.  By the time lunch hour rolled around it was –9.6C, there was minimal wind and the sun was shining (a rare occurrence around here lately).  I dressed up in tights, a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve mid-weight layer and some Smartwool socks.  Throw on the jacket, plus gloves and a toque.  The jacket has thumbholes and cuffins that you can pull over your fingers though in case you forget the gloves (or need some extra protection).While it was a bit cool walking down towards the pathway along the river , once I got going it felt amazing out.  I found the running hard in Australia, most likely because of the humidity down there.  Here in the crisp, cool weather it felt so much better.  I was happy to see I actually gained a bit of speed back!  As the sun kept shining down as I started to warm up.  Thank goodness for the pit zips on the jacket!There is also a special spot in one of the pockets to hold your iPod, with a hole to route the cord for the earphones.  Plus you can write you name and phone number in it in case you accidently misplace your jacket.I loved the jacket and I’m really happy with my purchase.  With the right layering it will definitely work well in the cold and snow, and it is waterproof so it would be great in the rain too.  Have I mentioned that it has a stowable hood too?  And finally, the jacket looks good enough that I’d use it as an every day jacket in the spring.  And since it has silver woven into the lining of the coat it won’t stink, so it will be perfectly useable at any time!  Did you know the silver is recycled from old Kodak film?  Interesting, eh?Sadly the jacket doesn’t seem to be available on the website anymore, but there are other jackets with similar features there.  You never know, there is generally a plethora of lululemon stuff on eBay too.

Trying It Again

I believe it was on December 1st that I declared that 9 pm swim classes were just not for me.  I am so not a night person.  But I still need some help with my stroke so what’s a girl to do?  I didn’t want to go back to classes at the Y since I felt like I needed a bit more attention.  I figured I’d just swim on my own and drop into Angie’s Wednesday night swim class on evenings I felt like it would work for me.

But then I heard that not very many people had signed up for the classes and they were in danger of being cancelled.  Uh oh!  Richelle suggested that I sign up and split the class with Tara.  Tara couldn’t commit to going every Wednesday either, but this way she could swim on days I wouldn’t go.  Then neither of us is really out money on the deal.  This would still mean attempting to make a 9 pm class.  No mamby pambying around though…it is my Ironman year and I’ve got work to do.  I’ll just have to suck it up! 

The jet lag has hit me a bit coming home though.  Driving home on Tuesday night at 5:30 pm I was so bagged that I didn’t go to spin class.  I was asleep before 8 pm!  In order to make sure the same thing didn’t happen on Wednesday I sipped on tea throughout the afternoon, ran errands after work, and even drank a peppermint mocha from Starbucks at 6:30 pm.  It worked and I made it to to swim class with no problems!  It was a great class too and I really got a lot out of the workout.  At one point Angie had me do a fist drill, and when she showed me how to do it properly…wow!!  When I did the drill and then transitioned into a swim I could really feel that I was catching the water.  Excellent!

When I got home I made a mug of hot chocolate, crawled into bed and threw Ratatouille in the DVD player.  Nothing against Ratatouille, I think it is a great movie…but I can’t seem to stay awake through it!  Turning the movie on gave my brain a chance to quieten, where as normally after a late night workout it would be just spinning and whirring.  Having the white noise on in the background meant I was probably out in about 10 minutes?  At least I have a plan now to make these late nights work!

Wrapping Up the Sydney Experience

Blogger Meet Up

It isn’t very often that I have the chance to meet up with a blogger buddy, but luckily it worked out that Melanie (of Mel Tries to Run) was able to come up to Sydney from Canberra on Saturday evening.  We met up with another runner friend of hers, went for cocktails and grabbed some super yummy Thai food in Newtown.  The evening was full of really fantastic conversation and I’m really glad that we had the chance to meet up.  Thanks again for a fantastic evening Mel!!

Hmm, looks like I caught a wee bit of sun…

Running

I managed to squeeze in some final runs in Sydney on Sunday and on Monday.  On Sunday I headed back to Circular Quay and the Opera House, plus I spent a bit more time exploring the Botanical Gardens.  It was slightly less humid when I started running as a light drizzle was coming down, but as soon as that finished the humidity kicked back in.  I went from feeling like I could run forever to feeling…ugh.  But the scenery was great!I hadn’t quite planned to run on Monday morning as that was the day I was leaving for the airport.  My parents had a much earlier flight than I did and they were out of the hotel room by 5:30 am.  I didn’t have to leave until 9 am to catch my flight and as I lay in bed and watched the sky brighten I figured I should really just get up and run.  We were staying in a part of Sydney called Darling Harbour so I just went down there and ran along the semi-circular boardwalk. I’m glad I got a last few miles in before having to rush off and catch my flight.  It was a nice way to end the trip.

Lessons Learned and Things I Was Reminded About in Australia

1. There is no better way to sightsee than on a run or a bike ride in a new place.  I got to see things I may not have noticed if I wasn’t running past it.  Running past the Sydney Opera House and up its stairs was a definite highlight.
2. Humidity and I?  We are not friends.  While all of my runs were incredibly scenic and beautiful they were also fairly hard.  I’m attributing it mostly to the humidity although I wasn’t quite the active runner I would have liked to have been in December.  So needless to say, I am actually kind of looking forward to getting back to running in cold, snowy Calgary.
3. Mozzies (aka mosquitoes) love me.  I do not love them.  My parents would get the odd bite here and there, but by the end of the trip the final count was 21 bites on my right leg, 16 on the left.
4. Swimming in a gorgeous outdoor pool is pretty well all I need to get excited about swimming again.  Time to get back to working on that stroke.

And with that…I’m back in Calgary.  Back to work tomorrow.  And my first block of Ironman training starts too!!  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with you guys.  Google Reader is telling me that I have just over 600 unread posts!!

Exploring Sydney Pools

When I was searching for places to swim before visiting Sydney there was one thing that was immediately clear.  There is no shortage of pools to choose from.  Indoor, outdoor, tidal pools, you name it, Sydney has it. 

Thanks to some yucky weather on Boxing Day I figured that the underground pool at the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic Center would be my best bet on Boxing Day.  The weather improved a bit around New Year’s, so it was time to scope out some outdoor pools.

Wylie’s Baths at Coogee Beach

The lovely Melanie suggested Wylie’s Baths as a good place to swim, and it was definitely a great idea.  I stopped in on the final day of 2009 for a quick swim. Wylie’s Baths is a 50 yard tidal pool, costs $3 for admission and it is open 365 days a year.  Their website is great and posts up to date times for low and high tide and swimming conditions.

Swimming at Wylie’s gives you the best of both worlds between a pool and the ocean.  You are more protected than swimming in the ocean, but the bottom of the pool is essentially the ocean floor.  It is uneven, rocky, and full of plant life and wee little fishes.

I spent some time analysing the situation – who was swimming versus who was playing around, what direction were they going – then slipped in the water.  I’d be lying if I didn’t have a moment where I thought, “Wow, I kinda wish I had a wetsuit…”  Luckily that idea lasted about five seconds because the water was really warm.  I was reminded that I cannot swim in a straight line without lines on the bottom so I wound up criss-crossing a bunch.  And I tell you what, you definitely notice if you are ingesting water when you swim in salt water…

Bondi Icebergs Club Swimming Pool

When I first saw the Bondi Icebergs Club website I knew I needed to swim here.  A 50m outdoor swimming pool right at the world famous Bondi Beach?  Fantastic.  Admission is $5 and is open to the public.  If you want to get into the club itself you need to have a membership if you live within a 5 km radius, or else you can enter as a temporary member.  The pool is closed every Thursday for cleaning.  The pool was amazing and I definitely appreciated having lines painted on the bottom of this pool.  And I love that you never really feel crowded in a 50m pool, even if you have six people in your lane.

I first stopped in to swim on New Year’s Day.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, apparently there is a big, super exclusive bash at the club every year.  Music was blaring out of the top level club and I loved swimming along and popping up to hear the tunes every once in awhile.  I went back again on Saturday the 2nd and it was a lot quieter, so this was definitely an unusual experience.

And yes, I loved the pool so much that I went back for a second swim the next day…making for three days in a row of swimming.  Talk about a way to say goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010!  The swim was even better on day three as I finally figured out how to drink less salt water on the swim.  It started to rain just as I was finishing up my set though, so I quickly ran out of the pool, moved my stuff under cover, then hopped back in the water to keep swimming.  After all, water is water whether it is pool water or rain water, right?

My dad even took some video of me swimming that I want to pass along to my coach.  It is the first time I’ve ever had a chance to see what I look like swimming and it is quite an eye opener.  What my left arm does compared to my right arm is pretty astounding.

Other places I looked at but didn’t have a chance to swim at?  The North Sydney Olympic Pool near Luna Park and the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool inside the Botanical Gardens.  So many pools, so little time…

New Year’s Eve – Sydney Style

Being that Sydney is one of the first cities in the world to delve into the new year they certainly go all out.  (They aren’t the first city, just one of the first ones.)  Yup, New Year’s in Sydney is something else.  At various time throughout the day on December 31st streets around the harbour and the Opera House start to shut down starting around 11 am until 4 am, so getting to the fireworks takes some planning.

Figuring out where you are going to watch the fireworks from also takes some planning.  We saw folks heading towards different vantage spots early in the morning with blankets and coolers.  A lot of the best areas, say around the Opera House only allow in a certain number of people before they call it at capacity and seal it off to additional people.

You understand why they have to start closing streets off as you make your way towards the harbour.  There are just so many people out there is no way you could contain them to sidewalks.  I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere this busy before!  We had booked a harbour dinner cruise for New Year’s…probably one of the best ways to try to catch the fireworks!  You better have your ticket or else you won’t get anywhere near the dock…

Sydney had a bit of a theme going and had asked folks to wear a touch of blue…as they were trying to go all out with as many blue fireworks as possible, the most difficult ones to create.  I didn’t realize this when I was packing or else I would have brought a blue dress, but I found something else in the suitcase that would do.

As we set sail around the harbour we passed the odd barge…spots were set up all around for fireworks to go off, not just on and around the bridge.

Sydney really gets into the spirit of things by having family fireworks go off at 9 pm for an eight minute show.

There were quite a few boats out on the harbour, and all of them had lights on them in different designs to increase their visibility.

Time flew after the first set of fireworks and before I knew it, it was midnight and the real spectacle started.  12 minutes of amazing fireworks all around – the bridge in front, off of barges to our side and behind us, and off of the buildings in downtown.  Absolutely unreal!

My pictures do not do the show justice since I couldn’t hold the camera still enough for the full exposure time.  So if you want to see the show, check out the video here.

And with that, it is officially 2010!  I cannot believe how quickly 2009 went.  It really felt like it flew by.  It was a year full of new PRs (5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon), plus it saw my first Olympic and half Iron distance triathlons.  Plus, I even won my age group at my one sprint triathlon of the year.  2010 looks to be even bigger and better…literally…as it is officially my Ironman year!  It should be an interesting journey.

Happy 2010!!!!