Blustery Days!

One thing about Calgary, the wind sure blows around here!  On Saturday morning I watched the temperature climb a bit and the sun come out from behind the clouds.  Shorts, a short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt and I was set!  Um, or maybe not… 

I had opted to do my 2 hour run around my neighbourhood as I had a last minute vet appointment in the early afternoon to get Finlay too.  Soon after I stepped out the door I realized that maybe it wasn’t quite as nice as I thought.  The wind was blowing and it was chilly!  Oh well, I can persevere, right?  Physically the run was feeling fine.  I was mentally prepared for a 2 hour run, I had my water and I had two Gus – chocolate mint and a blueberry pomegranate Roctane.  An hour in I downed my chocolate mint Gu and opted to make a detour to the neighbourhood Starbucks.  After I got going again the wind really started to get to me.  My legs were turning red from the cold wind hitting them.  Now…I was running around my neighbourhood so I suppose I could have gone home and changed but by this time I was a ways away from home.  About 1 hr 20 min in I broke and decided to call it quits and head home.  So there we go…underdressing for my run caught up to me!!  I wound up being 30 minutes short, but oh well…  It was home for a quick lunch, then Finlay and I were off to the vet.  He’s been suffering from an ear infection lately and the verdict was that he still hasn’t kicked it yet, poor guy!  On the plus side the Scottish vet gave me the thumbs up for my Scottish name for my little Scottish dog.

On Sunday I had a ride to take care of.  It was still pretty windy out…but that is the joy of Calgary.  You just have to get used to it around here at this time of year.  Given the sunshine I had no desire to ride my trainer!  I bundled up, grabbed the Cervelo and hit the road heading north.  The wind wasn’t nearly as cold as Saturday, but it was still pretty strong.  I think it was a cross wind…sometimes it was a head wind…but it rarely seemed to be a tail wind!  My legs were definitely more tired compared to my quick ride on Friday.  As soon as I left home I could tell they didn’t have quite the same zip in them.  Oh well, I made it up and down the hills and all in all it was a pretty good ride.  I came home, put the bike back in the garage, swapped out bike shoes for sneakers and ran a quick 14 minute brick.  Home for some core and done!  It was a pretty good week – three swims, three rides outdoors, four runs.

And now on to this week.  It is going to be a busy one..and I’m a bit scared thinking of how I’m going to fit it all in.  I’m working my butt off in order to arrive at the start of the Glencoe Icebreaker 10K nice and tired.  Should be fun, eh?

What’s that new feeling??

On Saturday I made plans to meet up with my friend Tara for our long run.  She was keen for company so I was game.  The plan?  1:45.  We shook things up by starting near the University of Calgary, running west along 32nd Avenue, south down Home Road, then east towards downtown Calgary.

The run is fairly flat with the exception of running down Home Road.  The change in elevation is about 150 feet over 0.3 mi.  Fun times!

It was a beautiful morning out.  Lovely and sunny, and I realized part way through that I could have opted for shorts and a short sleeve top instead of capris and a long sleeve.  Running with Tara pushes me out of my comfort zone a bit as she is faster than me.  I know she does slow down for me, but I do wind up speeding up too.  As we neared Edworthy Park I looked down at my Garmin and realized that we were running sub-10:00/miles.  I tend to average about 10:30/mi on my long runs.  I was feeling good though, so I didn’t say anything.  A bit later on Tara checks her Garmin and asks if I realize how fast we were going.  We talked about slowing down, but I think we wound up keeping the pace fairly even.  We ran almost to the bridge at Crowchild, we turned around and stopped in at Tri-It briefly to say hi to Richelle (and to borrow their bathroom).  I also downed an Espresso Love Gu.  This was my first time trying this flavour.  I love Hammer Gel’s Espresso, but I did not care for this one.  Chocolate Mint is still my number one favourite Gu flavour.

As we approached going up Home Road I slowed down a bit in order to tackle the hill with a “slowly but surely” attitude.  I watched Tara pull away up the hill, which was fine.  I had run hill repeats just a couple of days before so my main goal was to just make it up the hill on my own terms.  About half way up I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee.  The kind that they tell you that if you feel you should stop.  So I stopped, rubbed the area, walked a bit, jogged slowly…where was this coming from??  When I met Tara at the top I told her what was up.  We slowed it down for the home stretch, but the pain was there.  Not the same sharp pain, but a dull, tight kind of pain.  By the time we made it back to our starting point I was four minutes short on my run, but I didn’t think it really mattered.  I stopped and stretched and oddly after that it wasn’t bothering me.  Hmm…

On Sunday I had an 89 minute spin on my schedule – a strength workout with some squats.  Given the knee issue I dialled the gearing back a notch and upped the cadence slightly, typical if you have knee issues.  I figured that if my knee started to act up again that I’d be able to just hop off the bike.  Luckily the spin went well with no discomfort.  Time to throw on a jacket, swap out the bike shoes for running shoes and head out for a 15 minute brick run.  Success!  It went well. 

So…fingers crossed that pain in my knee doesn’t come back, but if it does I’m heading straight off to my physio therapist just in case!  So apart from that little niggly thing the rest of the weekend was a good one.  I even managed to score a fantastic deal on a new Specialized S Works helmet at Bow Cycle during their Blue Light Special weekend.  How was your weekend?

Family Day Long Weekend

Hey folks, I hope everyone had a terrific weekend!  Monday was Family Day here in Alberta, so it has been a long weekend here.  It has been full of workouts, friends and family, and of course, the Olympics!!  I’ve been soaking up as many events on TV as possible and I am so proud of all of our Olympic athletes!  Anyhow, let’s recap, shall we?

Saturday

Time for a long run!  I waited till around lunch time to knock out this run out, but it stayed a bit chilly at –7C (19F).  I had an 1:15 run on the schedule, but I arbitrarily decided to aim for 8 mi instead which would take me just a bit longer than that.  I ran another out and back from downtown and west along the river, just like last week.  The major difference was that the entire run went really well though!  I carried water and a gel with me, and I downed a Gu Roctane pomegranate blueberry gel at the halfway mark.  This was my first time trying out this flavour.  It wasn’t my most favourite, but then again I tend to not care for berry flavoured gels.

When I turned around I was running into a fairly strong wind, but this fuelled me to keep to keep the speed up so I could minimize my time in the wind.  I finished up at the YMCA in Eau Claire and immediately grabbed a chocolate milk and some cottage cheese.  Before I had finished eating I had really cooled off so I ran to the changing room and had a long, hot shower to warm up.  A great long run!!

Sunday

I’ve been having a tough time fitting in a long run and a swim on Saturdays lately.  This mostly has to do with the fact that I feel so cold by the time the run is done that all I want is a hot shower.  I could try swimming before I run I suppose, but I haven’t tried that out yet.  Instead I tried swimming early Sunday morning.  I was at the pool soon after it opened and I knocked out a great 2000m swim.  I showered, went home, then had a brick workout to take care of.  It was like a mini-triathlon day!

My bike workout was a full of low cadence work to build strength, plus a couple of times where I had to hop off the bike for squats and lunges.  70 minutes of time on the trainer.  Once I was done I quickly changed into running tights, threw on a jacket and went out for a 15 minute brick run.  This was my first brick in ages!  My legs felt wobbly and like they didn’t quite belong to me for the first few minutes.  Bricks are a bit tough in this weather as even though I was warmed up it was still a bit of a shocker to transition from indoors to outdoors in the cold and the wind.  My legs were tuckered after all of that!!

Monday

My only thing on the schedule for today was a drill swim.  I hit up the Y later in the afternoon.  The pool was fairly quiet and I had a lane to myself for probably half my workout.  I ran through some 6 kick rolls, fist drills and fingertip drags for my drills.  I also added in some paddle work to help build some strength.  I definitely love working with paddles.  I feel like it really helps to drive home certain aspects of good form.

And with that…now bring on the week!  This one looks to be busy and fun!

Sleep Deprivation

Wow….I am pushing the sleep deprivation this week!!  Caffeine is my friend!  After going to see Harry Potter I had to find out what happened on the So You Think You Can Dance finale.  I knew it was going to make a late night though…  After somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5 hours or so it was back up and off to the Y to swim.  Wow, it has been awhile since I’ve been to the pool..!!

I somehow or other trudged to the Y and started swimming.  It felt good to be back in the water.  My 2200m pacing workout went really well.  It was so quiet when I got there initially.  It was only myself and one other person swimming and more people didn’t dive in until I was finishing up my workout.  After I got out of the pool I was ready to crash though…except I had to go to work!  Thank goodness for caffeine this morning.  It was really rough.

The weather has not been terrific today, just grey, misting off and on…  I had hill repeats to ride on the bike and luckily by the afternoon the clouds were breaking.  I took off to Edworthy to ride up and down the hill a bunch of times.  I was supposed to go max effort on 6-7 hill repeats.  After riding up the hill once as a warm up I got going.  There were a few other cyclists out there doing the same thing and one lady kept yelling encouragement at me whenever we’d pass each other on the hill.  I was feeling pretty strong on the hills and my splits were all very close to each other.  I wound up getting 6 repeats (plus the warm up hill) done, then called it a night and took off for a 15 minute brick.

Now that I’ve found out who won So You Think You Can Dance I guess I can head to bed.  Pool tomorrow morning!

A Hot, Hilly Ride

I am pretty sure that my legs are going to be ready to disown me by the time this week is over!  I’ve been working them hard!!  I was on my feet for several hours yesterday at the Calgary 70.3 Expo (which was a blast…more details to come in a later post).  Being on your feet for that long is exhausting though!  That probably explains why I fell asleep on the couch soon after arriving home from my volunteering duties.

This morning I had instructions to ride a hilly 100K, followed by a 45 minute brick run.  It was forecasted to be 30C (86F) and sunny.  I realize that for a lot of you in the south that isn’t very hot…but around here…that’s a scorcher!  Anyhow, this ride was supposed to be somewhat of a dress rehearsal for two weeks from now.  Practice my nutrition, pacing, mental strategies…you name it.  I was able to map out a nice rolling ride that would have a similar amount of climbing to the Lake Stevens 70.3 bike course.  Here’s the elevation profile for the LS bike:
Fun stuff, eh?  It explains why Angie wants me to ride a hill route as Lake Stevens has about 2260 feet of climbing.

I mixed up my Camelbak with Infinit, and carried an extra bottle of Infinit (good for another 2 hours), plus a bottle of water to dilute it down.  I brought a gel along just in case, but I already knew that I could rely on just drinking the Infinit and I’d be in good shape for the duration of the ride.  I hit the bathroom several times before leaving home, then made my way out the door. 

My first opportunity for a bathroom wouldn’t be until about 2 hours into the ride…and wouldn’t you know that I really, really had to go an hour in?  I started scouring the ditches trying to look for a spot with some half decent cover.  Unfortunately the road was busy enough that there always seemed to be a car coming.  It was all I could think about…  Finally I turned on to another road and after going up a hill things seemed somewhat more secluded.  Marginally.  After letting some cars and motorcycles go past I had my chance…  Relief!!!!!!  It is amazing how much more fun riding is when you don’t have a full bladder.

I had mapped out a route that included a turn down a secondary highway I hadn’t ridden down before.  Sometimes you never know whether these secondary highways are paved or not, but considering how long the highway was I assumed it probably was paved.  Turns out…it isn’t!  No problem, I knew there was a parallel paved road just north that would add a bit of extra distance on.  After 2 hours I made it to Bottrell for another bathroom break, a chance to refill the Camelbak, and an opportunity to get a bottle of Coke!  That stuff is seriously an elixir of the gods…it tastes so good at the end of a long ride!

The road to and from Bottrell is hilly…plus I was riding into a headwind.  Ugh…  My speed was dropping and it was getting harder to get up those hills.  As I turned onto Horse Creek road I knew I had some big hills still ahead of me, but that reprieve would be coming soon.  It was some serious slow going up the final hill…  As I made it on to the bike course portion of Horse Creek the traffic started to pick up.  Folks were obviously dropping their bikes off at T1 for tomorrow’s race and then were driving the bike course on the way out.  Luckily that was the point where the net downhill started so I started to pick up some speed.

Finally it was back on Highway 1A for a nice straight shot back home.  I just had to get Cochrane Hill out of the way.  That’s right.  I routed my ride to include Cochrane Hill on the way home, 56 miles in to my ride.  Riding up this hill I realized how hot it was, but I slowly and smoothly made my way to the top.  From there it was a high spinning, super fast ride back home, in aero most of the way.  Turns out that going aero with a Camelbak on isn’t so bad after all.

Once I made it home I changed out of bike shorts into a running skirt and set out for my brick.  I carried a bottle of Gatorade with me.  I haven’t used Gatorade on a run in a long time, but I wanted to see how it jived with the Infinit.  I’m not planning on carrying fluids on the run portion of Lake Stevens and the aid stations are serving Gatorade.  I figured this was a good chance to see how it worked!  It was so hot out…and it was about 2 pm.  I ran slow because of it (partially on purpose, and partially because my legs were bagged).  I was supposed to run for 45 minutes but that seemed like too long in this heat.  I cut it down to 25 minutes as I just hit a Starbucks and thought a nice iced coffee would be good right about then.  I can only hope that it won’t be quite so hot the day of Lake Stevens or it is going to be one brutal half marathon…

As for my elevation profile for today’s ride?  How does this look?All said, 68.56 mi (110 km) and 2343 feet of climbing.  Incidentally, this was a solo ride.  I had a chance to ride with a couple of my teammates getting ready for Ironman, but I wanted a route that would give me good rollers the whole way since I knew it would be good prep.

Busy day tomorrow… I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far!!

Sunday’s Highwood Pass Ride

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

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

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

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

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

Letting Go

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Ride

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Group Ride Outside!!

Last week after my first flat on a ride I made a comment that I needed to spend some quality time in the comfort of my own home changing a tire so that I could learn to get comfortable with it. Turns out that I had my first chance for that on Friday night. I was hanging out in my garage putting my new bottle cages on. I took a look at the bike tire and it was feeling really flat. When I tried to unscrew the little cap to pump it up, this happened:

It wasn’t too big of a deal changing it, but I’m not sure I’m in love with these tubes since the stems are a bit short. Once the tire was changed and the wheel back on the bike the Canucks – St. Louis game was starting up and I settled into the coach for the night. Wow, was it an amazing game last night with some fantastic goaltending! Highlights are here.

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This morning we had our first team group ride outdoors. We met up at 11:00 just outside of Cochrane. I was pretty nervous driving in – there are a few Canadian flags at the turnoff and they were really blowing in the wind. I had visions of my ride from a couple of weeks ago that was just miserably windy. I never counted but I’m guessing that we probably had 20 people or so show up. Some of us were teammates, there were a couple of girls from the Canada Junior team (?) that Angie is working with, and a few other friends of Angie’s. Angie wanted us to spin high cadence above 90 RPM as much as possible and just get comfortable being on the bike – reaching for your water bottle, moving around in your handlebars, that sort of stuff. I was feeling really good riding – way better than a couple of weeks ago, although to be fair, that ride was after a big run weekend including a 10K race. As we started to hit the rolling uphills I was feeling strong on those hills. It was windy out, but luckily it felt like a crosswind most of the time. At one point a peloton of probably 10 riders zoomed right past us. They were riding in a big pack really close to one another, taking up the entire road with. When they were right behind me it almost sounded like a car was passing. They flew past almost like I was standing still.

Before I knew it I was up near the front of the pack and having a blast. We turned on to the road where the rolling hills became a bit bigger. Last year this spot was my nemesis and I always struggled and huffed and puffed my way along. I was expecting to get dropped like a hot potato by the riders around me, but to my surprise I stayed strong. Why had this stretch felt so difficult last year? I even powered my way up this hill really well too:

The picture really doesn’t do it justice, but it always looks scary and big to me. Anyhow, it looks like all of the riding indoors is paying off! When we hit the stop sign we regrouped and I took the opportunity to down a vanilla Hammer Gel. All of the tough uphill riding was behind us. We continued on in a loop rather than doing an out and back. I took off with a couple of teammates, Karen and Leslie Ann. These ladies are such a hoot and I loved riding with them. We hit another stop sign and turned to head back towards Cochrane. From here there were some rollers, but it was pretty well a net downhill. We were just flying back!! We finished up a loop back to our cars and rode for 26.5 miles.

I threw the bike back in the car, swapped out the bike shoes for some running shoes and took off on my T2 run. I ran an out and back along a gravel road and my legs felt dead. The crazy uphill along the road didn’t help much either! Despite feeling like I’m going nowhere I am always surprised at my pace on these post-bike runs. I ran just short of 20 minutes, then hopped in the car and headed home for some lunch.

After scarfing down my lunch I settled in to watch this past week’s episode of CSI. Hilarious and interesting episode (loved the crazy sci-fi TV show story line) but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open and I wound up napping for three hours…in my bike clothes and ball cap!!

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Anyhow, time to run since I’ve got to eat (again) and head off to a friend’s birthday party – happy birthday Michelle!! I just saw this on TV though. Apparently some yahoo stole a stick out of Alexei Kovalev’s hand through the little hole in the glass for press photographers. How crazy is that?

Anyhow, hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

The Weekend Wrap Up

Since my Saturday morning was pretty well shot I procrastinated on my spin workout until sometime after 5 pm. I had a 72 minute ride on the schedule called "crest the hill." The idea is to spin hard in your low cadence section as you go up the hill, then keep the momentum going as you "crest the hill." It is definitely a good workout, and I'm hoping that these spin workouts are really going to help for when I can get outside to ride again.

After the workout was done I had a 20 minute T2 run on the schedule. It was getting late...it was -13C...so it was dark and icy out. But I got out there and got it done. Well...okay...I went for just under 17 minutes, but who wants to quibble over three minutes? With the warming, then the snowfall, then the freezing the sidewalks change day to day and they were brutal last night. I'd definitely be running somewhere else for my Sunday long run.

After the run I whipped up dinner. I'd found an interesting recipe in a magazine while I was waiting for my massage and I was keen to try it out - stuffed poblano peppers. These sounded like a great alternative to chile rellenos. I lucked out in finding some poblano peppers and queso fresco at a Mexican grocery here in Calgary, and this dish turned out so well. I'd definitely recommend it! Because I'm all about the pairing I figured some Dos Equis Amber would work out pretty well.
After dinner I went through my stretches from my PT and whipped out the foam roller. Holy...flibberdijibbet... That thing just about made me cry...

Sunday was more procrastination. The weather was supposed to warm up so I took care of a few things in the morning, had some lunch, then decided to head out for my run. I had 15K (or 9.3 mi) on the schedule. I've been running around my neighborhood most of the time and I needed a change of scenery. Not to mention that I wasn't keen to be dodging a lot of the ice on the sidewalks here. So I drove down to Shouldice and ran the pathway along the river towards downtown since I knew the pathway would be cleared well.

It was +2C (35F) when I was leaving my house. After the crazy cold weather this past week that meant capri weather in my books. Plus a long sleeve shirt and a midweight top. It was somewhat overcast and luckily it was nice and calm out. Since the pathway is pretty flat I also wanted to try and keep my heart rate in zone 2 the entire time. There were a lot of people really bundled up for their run, but I felt pretty comfortable. It just felt so good to not be bogged down in so many layers. I really can't wait for spring!

While I was running I was tossing and turning my fall race schedule around in my mind. The lottery for the Nike Women's Marathon opens this week so I had a lot going through my mind:

• Do I want to enter the half or the full marathon in San Francisco?
• Is two months enough time between Lake Stevens and a possible full marathon?
• Is San Francisco the place to go for a sub 4:30 marathon?
• If I do go for the full...that means I'd probably wipe the 2010 Disney Marathon off the slate. This is where I'm fence sitting mostly. While I'd love to go and meet up with friends do I really want to kill a full week of vacation at Disney World for the third year in a row?
• If I don't get into the Nike race, what's my backup? The more Suz (my friend in San Antonio) and I talk about meeting up, I think my backup race may be the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Race in November. It would be a great chance to hang out and to see friends back in SA. A race in November would really nix the Disney Marathon for sure. But anyhow, we'll see...
  

Anyhow, lots of stuff was running through my mind while I was out there today! I ran an out and back and it was pretty easy to keep my heart rate in zone 2. Slightly tougher on the way back. After I hit 8 miles I gave myself permission to just run without worrying about heart rate.

So the interesting thing is, I was trying to run easy...didn't feel the need for a walk break at any time...and I finished up in 1:33:46. That is a solid 6 minutes faster than the Minnie Marathon 15K last May when I was trying to race. Yay for progress!!

Wines, Bricks and Records

Last night I got to go to a Chardonnay release party for Black Hills Estate Winery. The winery is in the Okanagan (in BC), but they were holding their release party here in Calgary. Everything I have ever tasted from them is really good, and because they make such a small amount it is very difficult to buy much of anything. It was quite the nice event - they handed you a glass of the new Chardonnay when you walked in the door, plus there were different wine and food pairing stations with a few of their other wines. For one, you could even taste 2008 barrel samples of their Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Ever wondered what wine looks like when it has only been in the barrel for a few months?

Looks like lemonade, and it actually tasted kind of like lemonade. The intense citrus taste was enough to almost knock you off of your feet. It was definitely an interesting and fun experience.

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Coach has mixed up my schedule a bit and has me spinning followed by a short tempo run afterwards on Saturday, and a long run on Sunday now. I got up early to go through my spin/stand/sit workout that lasted just under an hour. I pushed the gearing and my legs were burning, so it was definitely a good workout. While outside it was probably hovering around the freezing mark, my garage felt pretty comfortable inside. In fact, I was in shorts and a tank top and I was feeling a tad warm. As soon as I was done with my bike workout I threw some tights and a jacket on, put on my sneakers and ran off for my quick tempo run around the neighborhood. It was pretty short - 10 minutes at a tempo pace, followed by a 5 minutes easy run to cool down. I reconfigured all of my speed zones in my Garmin so I knew I was in my tempo range for sure. There we go, my first brick!

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I finished up with a quick 1.55 mile run, which brought my monthly mileage total to 94 miles exactly. I was pretty excited initially when I saw this because with tomorrow's run it will be the first time I run over 100 miles in a month this year. At first I thought this would be my first time breaking the 100 mile mark...but no... Last year I ran 110.62 miles in November. So I'm 16.62 miles away from equalling that total. Barring unforeseen disasters I'll be setting a new record tomorrow because I've got 18.64 miles (or 30 km) on the schedule. Exiting stuff!