The home stretch!

Life has been a whole bunch of working and training!!

I swam lots this month, and it really improved my speed and technique.  I'm feeling great, and hoping I'll make my swim well within the time cutoff for the race.  Biking has been another story... Not too many rides on the real roads so I'm really going to focus on that after my half marathon.

Speaking of the half on the 6th, I'm getting really excited for the race!  Matt and I are heading out early and taking my gramps to a red sox game, and we'll have a little time in Vermont to relax before the race.  I'm told there's a little lake nearby, so I plan on doing a few swims there for training.  My running hasn't been exactly where I want it for the race, but I feel confident that I'll do well, and if I don't get under 2 hours, which is my goal, it's not the end of the world.  I know I have it in me, but if the weather is too hot, I think I may fade a little.  I went for a training run in the heat a couple of weeks ago, and it was BRUTAL.  It's very hot in Vermont right now, so it's not looking amazing, but I'll wait and see.  I'll do my best, and that's as well as I can do!  This race is about Team Alzheimer's, family, and enjoying myself, so if I can't perform the way I want, I will still get lots out of it.

After the race, it will be ALL about the bike.  I will have my ass attached to that seat as much as I possibly can.  I am slightly worried about the bike time cutoff for the half ironman.  I am not allowed to continue racing if I finish the bike over 5 hours after I start the race, which means the swim plus the bike can't equal more than 5 hours.  I really don't have an accurate estimate of what I'm capable of, but I just feel like I could take 4 plus hours to bike 94 km.  I guess once I get out for a few long training rides, I'll know a little more what kind of time I'm looking at.  I am a little nervous though, I'm not going to lie. 

That's about that!  Next week will involve a lot of flying and driving, but then fun and relaxing with the fam!  Wahoo!

I'm a fish.

Today was a great day for workouts!  I got up this morning, went swimming, and had such a confidence boosting swim!  I did a warm-up of 600m, with some kicking, pulling and regular swimming, then I did 1650m of continuous swimming.  Instead of just swimming and counting up to 1650, I started with 275, then I did 250, then I did 225 etc. until I got to 25 and I was done!  I didn't stop between my sets (except a few goggle readjustments), so I still did 1650 continuous, but it helped make it a little more do-able for me, and also helped me not loose count.  My biggest problem swimming is that I loose count of my laps and end up doing too few. (funny how I never do too many...)  I then did a 200m cool down and called it a day.  I just felt amazing having finished such a long swim in about an hour.  The 70.3 swim leg is 1900m, so I was only 250 shy of the total.  It made me feel so much more confident that I will actually be able to finish the swim part, and within the time cutoff too.  My whole workout took an hour, so I know I'll be able to do 1900 within the one hour cutoff.  I felt so good leaving the pool.  I started to feel a little tight in my shoulders during the last 200m, but with time I know I'll be ok.

I worked all day at the shop, mostly taking returns from the big sale we had this weekend, but the time flew by and before I knew it, I went home and got ready for my run.  I really didn't want to, but I sucked it up and went.  I did 14km around the river, and I definitely overdressed.  I got dressed, and even thought to myself "I think I'm going to be too hot", but went out anyway.  I was wearing full length tights, a tank top, a long sleeve (I almost wore a thermal long sleeve instead, thank goodness I didn't), gloves and a thermal headband.  I definitely didn't need all those clothes, but I wasn't BOILING and I survived.  It tends to get windy around the river, so I think that's why I thought I should wear everything, but I could have at least worn capri pants, no gloves, and a normal head band.  My head was very sweaty!

This week is all swimming all the time, so I'll smell like pool and have super dry skin.  Fun!

Pool logistics

I normally swim at a city of Calgary pool; Killarney pool more specifically.  It's not REALLY that close to my house, but it's close enough, it's cheap, there is a gym if I feel like a change of scenery, and that's just where I go.  It's not the nicest pool around, but it will do.  One of my issues is the schedule, since there are very few hours for lane swim after 9:00 am, and even though I set my alarm almost every day so that I can get up and swim, it's rare that I actually get there.  Also, I don't LOVE the other people who swim there.  Now, I have no problems whatsoever with people going to the pool who aren't great swimmers.  That was me one year ago.  It's just that I never know where I fit in with these people.  On Monday nights during swim conditioning class, I am a definite SLOW laner.  Everyone is faster than I am.  During lane swim, however, the slow lane is full of people who are just walking back and forth in the pool, so I go to the medium lane.  This is where it gets tricky.  I'm not fast.  Not at all.  But I swim with my face in the water and I do a real stroke.  Sometimes, there are the "I'm just going to hop in the pool for a change but I don't want to get my hair wet" people in the medium lane.  They're faster than the walkers, but they aren't medium.  Over in the fast lane, people are one second away from qualifying for the olympics, so where do I go?  I usually suck it up, go in the medium lane and just pass people (which isn't terrible for the ego for a second). 

Last night I went to the Talisman Centre for a change.  These issues don't really exist there.  There are WAY more lanes, the people are generally a lot more "serious", and I can get away with slow, maybe medium, with no issues at all.  Also, if you go in the last 90 minutes, it's only a 5$ drop in fee, which is the same as the city of Calgary pools.  Last night, I psyched myself up for a great swim, and when I got there, I realized that their main pools were under renovation.  SO, in the last remaining pool I found two water polo teams, three lanes of swimming, and a lot of people with dry hair.  I felt foiled!  I didn't give up, but I spent my time passing people and getting hit in the face by crazy sporadic arms.  Hey, on the bright side, it simulated the tri race experience!

Where have I been?

I'm not too sure what to blog about these days, hence why I haven't been blogging.  I really like reading people's blogs, but I don't really feel like I have much to say that hasn't already been said by others!  I really like reading sporty blogs, which helps me stay motivated and also teaches me, so maybe I'll spin my blog into something a little more like that.  For some, that means bo-ring, but for some others it might be more interesting than staring at the same post for over a month.  I've also considered just not blogging anymore, so we'll see how it goes.

I've been running, swimming and biking lots lately, which feels great and makes me feel a little better about my upcoming "year in sports".  I, like my sis, am running the Vermont Covered Bridges Half Marathon for team alzheimers (so if you want to give money to ME instead, I won't say no!), and of course the Calgary 70.3, and I've also signed up for the Calgary Police Half Marathon as a little teaser before the Vermont half.  Last year I ran that race and had the greatest support group which made my race so much better.  I felt good about it, even though I didn't make my goal of a sub 2 hour race. This year, I won't put too much importance on that race since my priorities lie in Vermont, but I'll give it a go and do my best, and hopefully learn for the next one.

I'm having a hard time on the bike these days, mainly out of boredom (since I'm riding on a trainer) and wussiness (since I just gear down when I'm tired).  Also my toes get pretty cold.  I've downloaded a couple of workouts to do on the trainer which will make it harder for me to just quit halfway through, and also some audio books to keep my mind off the toughness.  Cycling is my major weakness so it definitely needs my attention.

Swimming is going pretty well.  Again, I've got a few workouts, both technique and endurance, which help me stay on track and prevent me from just stopping when I'm tired.  Unlike running, where if I stop, I have to still walk home, swimming and biking (at the moment) are done in one spot so if I want to stop, I can.  This means I need extra motivation to keep going.  My main issue with swimming right now is the water in the ears.  Yesterday, I swam at noon, and at 4:30 I still had the ocean sound in both ears.  Terrible.  I have actually given myself whiplash trying to get the water out of my ears!  It's not the HUGEST deal, except when I go from the swim to bike, I get discombobulated and off balance because of the water splashing around in my head.  I have purchased some wax ear plugs, so stay tuned to see if they work.

OK, that's what I've got going on.  Any feedback, advice, or comments, feel free!

Weekend? In Toronto? Yes, it's true.

I know it's almost next weekend, but I'm posting about my last weekend. Matt and I went to Toronto to spend the weekend with his family and friends. Technically he lives just outside Toronto, in a little town that's pretty quaint, yet so close to the city. It's quite convenient.

We flew in pretty late, and I should add that that was the closest I've ever come to not making a flight before... We were literally the last two people on the plane, and not because we were late, but because they didn't think there was room for us. I basically kept harassing the CSA and finally he told us there was room for us. Yay!

We went out to a bar that night, had some fun, drank a beer, and then went home. The next day we slept a lot, then went out to see one of Matt's brother at the golf course that he works at, kind of far away but nice. Then that night we went out in downtown Toronto to this super cool giant pub called Madison, and as a side note I saw Matte Babel from Muchmusic and we're best friends now. Then the next day we went downtown during the day and walked around and saw a bunch of things... We went back to his house, I gave his brother a mohawk, and we went to bed. The next day Matt was working at his job from last summer, so his mum and I went to this warehouse perfume sale. I kind of bought a few perfumes, but they were super cheap so I couldn't resist. After, I went for a run and then cooled off by swimming in their pool. Seriously, my boyfriend ('s parents) has a pool!!!!!! I was like a little kid, so excited that someone I knew had a swimming pool. No one but me and Matt's little brother would go in so early in the season, so the two of us had somersault competitions while everyone else thought we were crazy for swimming in the cold pool. Then on Tuesday morning I left for home, and that's about it.

I had a really great time, and I definitely like Toronto, but I won't compare it to Calgary even though everyone there asked me "so it's better than Calgary hey??". They're just way too different. I'm super excited for the long weekend because we're going back to Toronto, and then near the end of the week we're going to Ottawa to visit with Kristen and Jordan and for the big race!! Eeeps it's coming up pretty soon!