A Relaxing Weekend (of sorts…)

Did I train this weekend?  I was all set to get my 1.5 hour long run in on Friday after work but as the day went on I realized that my brain just wasn’t in to it.  I’m giving myself permission to slack just a teeny bit longer.  It has been a long year of racing and training so I’m not going to push things if my head isn’t in the game.  After all, I went from a marathon in January to a half Iron in July and August!  The next year is going to be a LONG one and I don’t want to risk burnout!  So apart from a nice 40 min run through the neighbourhood early Saturday morning here’s what else went on:

Friday:

I bailed on a long run in order to get some errands done.  I picked up a few paint chips and a roller from Home Depot, then put one of my Restoration Hardware colour testers on the wall in my spare bedroom.  After that it was off to Costco to price out tires and pick up some lamb chops and the new Jamie Oliver cookbook.  I tell ya, I sure know how to party on a Friday night!

*Just a word about the new Jamie Oliver cookbook…love the concept!  He wants you to learn one recipe from the cookbook and pass it on to a friend in an effort to inspire more people to make good home cooked healthy meals.

Saturday:

I met my best riding gal pals Pam and Tara at Diner Deluxe for breakfast.  It was great to see these ladies wearing something other than spandex and the conversation was fantastic!  I relived my Lake Stevens race, the Ironman Canada weekend and we talked about plans for next year.  I feel so fortunate to have met such wonderful people through triathlon in this town, and I cannot wait to keep training with them.

After some amazing chocolate sourdough French toast with fried bananas I took off to Tri-It to check out their end of season sale.  I figured that since my old race shorts developed a hole in them I could probably use a new pair…  Then it was on to Team Aquatic for their end of season sale, where I managed to pick up a couple of Speedo Endurance suits at an amazing price.  I rounded it out with a trip to the Calgary Farmers’ Market to pick up some amazing fresh produce.

And thanks to the lamb chops from Costco plus my bounty from the Farmers’ Market I threw together a pretty amazing dinner:

Grilled Mint Lamb Chops:

Roast lamb with mint sauce is a quintessential British dish and this is my fresh take on the dish.  I concocted a paste of some fresh mint, one clove of fresh garlic, the zest of half a lemon, a little olive oil and salt and pepper:I seasoned two lamb chops with some additional salt and pepper, then spread the paste on and left it in the fridge for an hour or two.
As grill time approached I let the chops come to room temperature for 30 minutes, then I grilled them over medium high heat for 4 min per side.  They came out a lovely medium/medium rare.  Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy!  The flavours are subtle and complement the lamb really well.

I also prepared some baby beets as a side dish by tossing the beets (skin on, but sliced in half) in some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Add in a sprinkle of water and fold in to a foil pouch.  Grill for 10 minutes over medium high heat as well.  My mom deserves the credit on this one as she suggested it to me!I served it all with a bottle of Fox Creek 2004 Short Row Shiraz.  This shiraz is from McLaren Vale in Australia.  I have tried quite a few Fox Creek wines and they are all delicious, so if shiraz is your thing, then check it out!

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

A Shoe Deal!!

I had a 90 minute massage scheduled after work. Once I was done I called in a take out order to my favourite sushi restaurant and I had about 30 to 45 minutes before it would be ready. I opted to wander around Kensington and visit Ridley's Cycle. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just enjoy wandering around the local bike shop. I stepped up the the cycling shoes and noticed some baskets full of shoes on the ground. Tons of men's shoes, maybe three pairs of women's road/triathlon shoes and maybe another three or four pairs of women's mountain biking shoes. All of the women's shoes were a size 40.

I picked up a pair and looked at the price tag. They looked like a huge deal! Unfortunately they were too small. I grabbed a different style to try on just in case. They felt like heaven on my feet. They are the Shimano SH-TR50, a triathlon specific shoe. Rather than my other shoes that have three velcro straps, this has one big strap. The big loop at the back makes it easy to pull these on. Easy on, easy off!
The front of the shoe is also really well ventilated. Inside at the ankle is nicely padded for a snug and comfortable fit. I think these will be really comfortable without socks.The shoes have a carbon fiber sole.There is also a little hole in the sole near the toes. I guess this is to allow for water to drain through after the swim? Pretty cool, eh?These shoes are a 2008 sample pair, which explains why every pair was a size 40. They look to retail for about $170 US, $250 Canadian. I got these babies for $59.99!?!? I got the cleats put on for a few more dollars. I love me a deal and cannot wait to try these out!!

Oh so tired..!!

Wednesday

I had a 30 minute run on the schedule and I knocked it out over lunch. My legs were tired from Tuesday's spin class. Not much to say about the run really, I just got it done!

Thursday - A Painful Swim

Today's swim was labeled an endurance one. On the warm up I realized my entire body was tired and hurting. There were five of us in the lane today and I could hang on to a couple of them, but it was tough. The entire 2200m workout felt like one gigantic speed session for me. As somewhat of a blow to the ego when I was leading and I turned at the wall I noticed one of the guys in the back was breast stroking since I guess I wasn't going fast enough for him. So much for thinking that I was busting my behind!!

Intervals

Given my tired and painful swim I was a little nervous about running intervals over lunch today. I had 5 x 3:00 intervals to do. It was one of those amazing spring days here in Calgary. The sky was blue and it felt so amazing outside. The theme of today's run seemed to be how many people I recognized on the pathway. I saw my aunt and a coworker, plus I ran into Karen and Dawn a few times too! Here's how they went down:

• 1 - 8:02/mi
• 2 - 8:14/mi
• 3 - 8:14/mi
• 4 - 8:05/mi - Karen was cheering me on for this one!
  
• 5 - 8:30/mi - Oy...that was tough...

I finished up with 5.5 miles. I went back to the office, ran through some lunges, squats, push ups and some core.

Shopping Spree

After work I stopped by Tri It to check out their sports bras. I wound up picking up one from CW-X that I'm looking forward to trying out. Once I get a chance to try it out I'm going to look at pulling together a review! I always love stopping by Tri It. Richelle and Rose are a lot of fun. That's the great thing about triathlon in this town - there are some amazing people involved in this sport!

After I left Tri It I headed over to Bow Cycle. I needed to pick up a new bottle cage so I could carry more than one water bottle on longer bike rides. They didn't have the exact cage that I already have...and since I wanted them to match I grabbed two... I also picked up a CO2 kit as well. I was carrying a small pump, but I think CO2 may be a better way to make sure that if I do flat, I am able to pressure my tire up enough. Then at the checkout I spied that they still had some chocolate mint GU! Love that stuff...!!
Distractions

There is a new distraction...playoff hockey!! Last night I knew I needed to head to bed but the Vancouver Canucks were playing the St. Louis Blues and I couldn't not watch. I love, love, love the playoffs, especially when the Canucks are in it!

Polar For Sale!

If anyone is looking for a deal on a Polar unit my friend Richelle has one that she is trying to sell. It is a Polar RS 200SD - speed and distance. Retails for $280, but she is selling it for $150. It has only been used a few times. Get in touch with Richelle at richelle@triathlete.com.

Miracle Socks?

One of the tri stores here in town - Tri-It - was having a sale this weekend. 20% off of everything in the store. (By the way, yes, that is me on the front page of the Tri-It website!) I really wanted to pick up some Kona Cola nuun so I headed there after work to stop in and also say hi to Richelle. I've been curious about trying compression recovery socks. I've heard that people really like them. But...they are expensive. Tri-It carries Zoot CompressRX. With the 20% off sale, this was my chance to give them a whirl! I also checked out the swimsuits. It was a toss up between this one and that one, but here's what I wound up with:I went for a 12K run this morning and put my socks on afterwards. Ahhh, it feels like a non-stop massage on my calves... It will be interesting to try these out after longer runs or after a hard bike ride!
***If for some reason I missed sending you your Valentine's, please let me know!***

For All You Stinky Canadians Out There

It seems like everyone has been reviewing one brand of a new sport detergent or another out there lately. In fact I have my very own attempt to get rid of the stink in my clothes that I'll be writing about soon. If any of my fellow Canucks out there are interested in trying WIN, it is available at Shoppers Drug Mart. A bottle is on sale for $6.99 (regular $8.99) until February 6th. It washes 21 loads and is available in the regular formula or WIN Green (dye and fragrance free). The packaging is also slightly different up here. Just thought I would let you all know in case you were keen to try it! And *cough, cough* it actually looks like it might be a better deal here than in the US...*cough, cough*

Sadly ProWash is not available in Canada at the moment though.

Tuesday Spin Night Bullet Points

• After telling Marcy that I avoided Walmart like the plague I stopped by on my way home to pick up Prince Caspian. Wanted was no where to be seen though.
• I was reminded as to why I dislike Walmart. Busy...no shopping baskets to be found and I didn't want to be navigating the aisles with a cart...mothers letting their kids dump their orange juice on the floor then slyly moving away, pretending like it wasn't their kid that just made the mess...
• I might have made a few other DVD purchases... I am pretty sure that 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada will be for my viewing pleasure only.
• I was so excited about my DVD purchases that I might have played the first bit of 27 Dresses...in my DVD player in my garage...while I packed my bike and trainer up before heading to spin class.
• Spin class was intense! We did a lot of strength work and my legs were burning. Single leg is some of my favourite stuff...not sure why! Maybe because I've seen a big improvement in my ability to do single leg drills lately.
• During some of the major strength portions my heart rate was not increasing very much, despite seriously burning legs. Apparently if your heart rate doesn't rise during pure strength work then you need to get stronger...
• This was our longest "ride" to date - just over 30 miles, and almost two hours on the bike!
• Class ran a little long and I was hoping to make it to Best Buy before it closed. I pulled away from Bow Cycle around 8:45 pm and arrived at the Best Buy parking lot at 8:55 pm. Five minutes to shop!
• After finding Wanted (for the bargain, one day only price of $19.99) I was perusing the aisles. Why is it that you can buy Catwoman on DVD, but I can't find the first Charlie's Angels movie anywhere?
• Apparently Best Buy is now open until 10 pm for all of your holiday shopping needs. Seriously? I guess I didn't need to rush.
• I found The Devil Wears Prada for the bargain basement price of $6.99. I suspect it was mislabelled.. Regardless, that means I'll be back at Walmart today, returning my other copy there.

Redemption...I Think...

After last week's spin class I arrived at Bow Cycle ready for a little redemption. Sort of... I had some issues to work through. All day yesterday I was feeling the beginnings of a cold that has been making its way around my office. By the end of the day my nose was running, coughing had started and I was getting seriously winded going up stairs. Oh, and not to mention that I was suffering from some serious digestive unhappiness as well. But not going to spin class wasn't an option, and thankfully after a few minutes on the bike all of the issues disappeared. Well...at least temporarily! Coach couldn't make it, so Richelle filled in as our instructor. I promised her that I would work my tail off, and I really felt like I did. I pushed hard to hold my rpms steady over the drills that we did, and I also pushed the gearing and tension on my trainer. There were no heart rate monitors for the class so I can't verify it, but I know that there was no sand bagging last night. My legs were very tired when I got home, so I wolfed down a quick snack of some baked beans and toast, watched CBS declare Obama the winner of the presidential election and McCain's conciliatory speech and called it a night.

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Also, a tip for triathletes in Canada... If you are looking to pick up end of season tri gear on a discount then check out Tri Geeks. They have some really good deals on clothing right now, plus they offer free shipping within Canada. I've got a pair of Zoot shorts and a box of chocolate mint Gu coming my way...can't wait!

Tupperware Overload

I *heart* Tupperware... A few weeks back they were running a special on "on the go" sets. Stuff you could take your lunch to work in. Since I'm trying to not eat out for lunch as much and hoping to bring my lunch in to work with me on a more frequent basis I figured this would be a great idea. So...voila...I ordered a little lunch pack for taking salads to work (in green), and another little bento box type set (in orange). My stuff arrived today, so I'm looking forward to trying it out soon. I also got an e-mail this afternoon that a Tupperware consultant is moving and trying to sell off her demo stuff at cheap prices so I snatched some more goodies up. So yikes, look at all the Tupperware I brought home today!

A Suit Score!

Claire asked me if most of the tris around here are pool swims. There are actually quite a few races with lake swims, but being so far north I'm pretty sure the water temperature is never warm enough to race without a wetsuit. If I hope to expand my race repertoir next year I'm going to need a suit for sure. I heard about a few end of season deals on wetsuits - one was 20% off all remaining wetsuits in stock at a local tri store. The other was the sell off of a few rental wetsuits at another store. I figured I'd try my luck for a new suit first, so this afternoon I headed off to try on wetsuits. I prepared myself for a horrifying experience. After all, trying to stuff yourself into neoprene sausage casing can't really be all fun and good times, can it? I walked in the store and talked to the fellow working there about the Blue Seventy suits. We looked at the sizing chart and I was pretty sure I was going to need an XL. He encouraged me to try the size down Athena version first and after struggling to pull it on for about 10 minutes the final verdict was that it was way too big. Way too much room in the hips and calves. Sizing down again...I like that! So I trotted back to the changing room with the smaller wetsuit and tried to cajole that neoprene up and on to my body. After much struggling I pulled the zipper up and headed back out in to the store to get the verdict on the smaller suit. Still too big! After sizing down again and much coaxing of the neoprene we had a winner. With all of that sizing down it wasn't quite the horrifying experience I expected. It sure was a workout though... So check out the new suit, a Blue Seventy Reaction:

Shopping Spree

Yesterday I was inspired by RoadBunner's post of finding some great gear for her first tri so I did a little bit of online looking myself. A tri top, a pair of bike shorts, and two bike jerseys later I think I am well on my way to getting outfitted. Well, as soon as they arrive in the mail that is. The tri top was a fantastic deal and I thought, "Hey, I'll need that next year..." Then of course at some point the wheels in my brain start whirling and I remember a women's only tri that I had heard of that is coming up in August. Surely at a beginner friendly, women's only tri I may be able to doggie paddle my way through 750 m... Could I? Should I? Maybe one of these days I'll get down to one of the community pools to see just where my swimming is at...

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Otherwise I've managed to bike to work three days out of this week, plus I hit all of my midweek runs as planned. I was a few minutes late leaving for my run to boot camp last night and wouldn't you know it, it turned into the downhill run that went nowhere but downhill. I had a massive knot in my right calve that felt mighty unpleasant. I rolled into bootcamp one or two minutes late, but since everyone was running to warm up I just joined in. The workout was a pretty good one - lots of work on the legs.

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Coming up - a trip to the chiro to work out that nasty knot in my calf and a 12 miler tomorrow...

1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

Last week I was on a roll....this week I ground to a dead halt. Monday was supposed to be Fit Ball. I've been in a course these past three days and the course doesn't finish until 4:30. Of course when you are on a course that is when crises at work happen. Needless to say I didn't get out of the office early enough to rush home and then rush to Fit Ball. It was provincial election day on Monday so I was going to go vote, then go for a run. Except as I was leaving the office I got a frantic call from my bro to help look after my gorgeous niece. How could I say no to that? So I headed over after doing my civic duty and spent some quality time with Avery. We hung out and watched Project Runway and Girlicious (all totally appropriate shows for child development), noshed on pizza and played.

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Tuesday...well, there was no run over lunch because said crises still weren't solved, plus we don't get a long enough lunch break to fit in a run even if I weren't fighting fires. When I left the office I wasn't really up for running, all I wanted to do was unwind. My solution was a little retail therapy....does that count for cross training? I attempted to find some totally running inappropriate shoes with no luck but I did walk out with two blazers from Benetton well marked down from a massive sale.

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As for tonight? Well, no running tonight either. Neil and I are off to a local wine store for a port tasting and who is going to want to run after that? Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back at it since my course will be over and I can try to run over lunch...

I Need New Pants

I've read it in many books - do not attempt to train for and run a marathon as a means to lose weight. I know a lot of people do take up running as a means to get in shape, and certainly signing up for races is what motivates me to keep going. I still question whether I would have the determination to get out for my runs and other various workouts if I wasn't training towards something concrete - i.e. the Goofy Challenge. In the past I've found it so much easier to go out to dinner with friends, or stay in and watch TV instead of get up and get moving. Well, whether people do lose weight while training varies, but apparently it is helping me. Hitting the 20 miles per week number is the golden ticket as far as my body is concerned. The majority of the pants in my closet are swimmingly large, and I have rediscovered a few "forgotten favorites" that were gathering dust. Unfortunately I don't have that enough of those old forgotten pants that now fit. I believe a shopping trip is in order... My trip to Seattle now serves many purposes - a girl trip out of town, a race, and a chance to hit some outlet stores and buy new pants. Hurrah.