Monday Musings: Trying to get back on track

Hi ho!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!  I spent it cheering and celebrating birthdays with family.  It was a big triathlon weekend here in Toronto.  The 5th annual Toronto Triathlon Festival was held on Sunday.  I had two athletes racing and I knew a TON of other people racing as well so I hopped on my bike and went down to do some cheering.  They had pretty much perfect conditions other than the really strong east wind.   It was overcast and not too humid.  I did feel a bit of a cool breeze and some rain while I was watching the swim but that didn't last long.

I'm not gonna lie, I was having some FOMO sitting there watching.  Funny because when G did it back in 2012, I remember looking at the channel and saying there was no way in hell I would ever swim in that water.   Yesterday it didn't look so bad.  Clearly I've come a long way, ha ha.  That being said, it was still fun cheering people on.  The Toronto Triathlon Club had a HUGE contingent of people out to try to reclaim the club championship, which they did handily.  YEAH TTC!

And I'm happy to say that both my athletes CRUSHED IT yesterday.  Both gals were grinning from ear to ear every time I saw them.  I know Courtney will post a race report sat some point (no pressure Courtney, ha ha) so make sure you check that out.  And Charlotte is now officially addicted.  YES!  One more person that has been brought into the fold, he he he.  It was also great to see some of my TTC hill crew out there kicking butt!

Happy finisher!  

Proud coach with a very happy athlete! 

These last few weeks have been a flurry of activity and a bit of inconsistency.  Looking through my training log last week I realized that I hadn't done a long ride since July 2nd.  Annnnddd...guess what didn't happen yet again this weekend.  FML.  We were out late on Friday night and then sat around Saturday  morning waiting to see what the weather would do.  When we eventually got out, it started to rain.  UGH.  I only rode for an hour and 10 minutes but I made sure it was a good ride.  I opted to do my long run almost right after that.  An hour and 15 minutes on my feet.  This week had been going SO well.  That being said, it was still a pretty good week.  Let's see how it unfolded, shall we!

Monday:  2700m swim.

Tuesday:  Double bike day!  35.8 km with Morning Glory in the a.m. and then 28km with TTC crew in the p.m. in High Park.  I'm definitely getting my fill of hills on the bike!

Wednesday:  3100m swim, 5km run, followed by a very quick 15 minute upper body / physio routine

Thursday:  30km with Morning Glory, followed by 7km with my friend David.  My legs were toast.

Friday:  2200m swim

Saturday:  33.7km ride followed by a 13.5km run

Sunday:  30.5km ride around High Park and down to the Toronto Triathlon Festival.

Totals:

Swim:  8000m
Bike:  159km
Run:  25.6km

Guys, this is the FIRST time in WEEKS that I've actually hit all my weekly targets.  WOOHOO!

Total time:  11h 4 minutes

My glut / hamstring soreness is still persisting.  My chiro suspects I also have a bit of bursitis in my glut.  I am a bit of a mess.  But it's not at the point where it's preventing me from being active.  I found that running slower on my long run felt ok vs. when I run fast.  Obviously I had wanted to add some speed work in but that may not be an option for me.  But we'll see how things progress with the exercises.  Hopefully my hamstring routine helps calm things down.  In the meantime I've taped it and that seems to be helping.  I had a V02 max test this morning at U of T and it seemed to keep the pain at bay so that may be something I do on regular basis.  I'll be writing a post on my V02 max findings later on this week!

Oh and things to note - rehydrating with Pina coladas and wine is a bad idea.   After cheering at the TTF, I raced home, showered, stuffed my face and then we went out to my Uncles place for the annual Welch family BBQ.  When your cousin is a chef at North 44, you know it's gonna be good.   It ended up becoming an impromptu birthday celebration as several family members are celebrating "significant" birthdays this year.  So that automatically means silly head gear.

This is my dad - he turned 70 in June, ha ha.

This picture KILLS me.  The placement of the birds was totally by accident, ha ha.

Whatever training I did on Sunday was negated by the food and drink I had on Sunday.  But, it was totally worth it.  The food was amazing and the company was even better.  My face hurt from laughing so much.  Such an awesome way to end my weekend.


Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend!  What do you think about the fancy celebratory head wear and glasses??  

~ Coach PK