Monday Musings: Hitting the Road

Happy Monday!

Well Mother Nature blessed us with a reprieve from the polar vortex this weekend.  It felt like spring out it was so nice!  I hope you managed to get out and take advantage of it.  Looks like the brutally cold temps will be staying away for the next week, which means we *should* have a fairly uneventful drive down south.  Yup, we're headed back to Clermont for two months.   I'm super excited!  But first, the massive task of packing.  UGH.  And of course this coming week is when I scheduled all my appointments.  Because I somehow thought that would be a good idea. Ha.

I have some exciting news to share!  I have been accepted as a Lole Ambassador!  They were looking for a female run coach to round out their roster of Ambassadors so I got the spot!  This means I get to host 4 (or more) events at the Lole Yorkville store, all running related.  It also means that I get a discount on my favourite clothing brand.  I live in their stuff.  I also train and run in it so this is a huge win / win for me.  The most fun part?  I will be hosting a clothing party as well!  I'm not sure where or when just yet but I have some ideas so stay tuned for that.  Guests will get a discount too.  WOOHOO.

Anyway, I'm trying to head to Florida as healthy as possible since I will be away from my normal health care practitioners for a couple of months and I don't want to have to go and see someone down there as it more than likely won't be covered on our extended benefits.  So, I'm trying to get 'tuned up" as much as possible, ha ha.

Speaking of which, I had another fascial stretch therapy session this past week and she focussed on my upper body.  Wow.  I am feeling SO much better in the pool.  My chest feels so much more open and my shoulders don't feel as tight.  My shoulders were a bit of a mess.  So much so that my therapist took a picture of the difference.

Crazy right???

I'm definitely feeling much better through my chest and upper back.  I could still use a bit more mobility through my t-spine but I'm sure that will come if I keep working at it.  I can really feel the difference in the pool, which is fantastic.  G commented that I'm swimming much better.  I think my form is a bit better too.  Now I just need to work on my catch a bit more.  My goal is to be able to swim between 1:40-1:45 in a half ironman distance swim.  So I've got a bit more work to do.

I had a big week of workouts planned but by Friday I was feeling a bit run down.  I hadn't slept well for a couple of nights (thank you hormones!) and it caught up with my on Friday.  I had a swim and a run on tap and I did neither.  Saturday I thought I felt better (my HRV said otherwise but I ignored it) and I got on the bike and tried to ride for 2.5 hours.

I made it 10 minutes in and couldn't settle my heart rate so I pulled the pin.  This time next week I will be able to ride outside for as long as I want so I am not going to worry about trying to cram anything in this week.

So instead of the monster week I was hoping to have before we leave, I had a meh kinda week.  But it's better than nothing.  This is what went down:

Monday:  1 hour sweet spot ride.  Felt really good.

Tuesday:  35 minute run (6.7km).  I was supposed to have some tempo work in there but some poor food choices for lunch made that NOT happen.  I followed that up with 15 minutes of lower body work.

Wednesday:  2750m swim.  This felt good.  I was a bit sore from the FST treatment the night before but otherwise I felt ok.

Thursday:  60 minute strength session.  I did almost the entire workout I had my class do.  55 minute V02 max ride in the p.m.  That didn't go over so well.  My legs were toast (not surprising given I did my strength work first, duh).  The hard riding also bugged my lower back.  So I made it through half of the intervals and then called it a day.

Friday:  OFF

Saturday: OFF

Sunday:  2650m hard swim,  followed by a 13km run home in the a.m.  Then I did 60 minutes of strength work with my class in the p.m.   The GoPro came to the pool yesterday so there was some goofing around.

Totals for the week:

Swim:  5400m
Bike:  71km
Run:  19.7km

Total time:  8h 10 minutes.  

How was your week of training?  Have you had poor food choices ruin one of your workouts?  What did it for you?  Mine was having Chipotle for lunch.

Happy Monday!

~ Coach PK.

Monday Musings: Birthday Week & A Sneak Peek

Hey hey hey, it's Mon-DAY and I cannot believe that we've been here for a MONTH already!  February has pretty much flown by.  Normally I'm not a big fan of February but I'm not gonna lie, I'm LOVING February this year.   We're really enjoying the weather, the people and the fact that we can hop on our bikes and ride right from our front door.  G said he thinks he could live here.  I'm not sure I could, as much as I love the warm weather, I know I'd miss the changing of the seasons.   Not to mention my family and friends.

Speaking of my family,  my amazing sister made it on local TV to talk about a project that she has been working on for the last year.   To say I'm proud would be an understatement.   And I realize that it's been a while since I've mentioned my dad.  His heart attack back in November was quite serious but he's finally in cardiac rehab and he's on the mend.  He's changed his diet and he's now allowed to play some badminton and he's in the gym lifting weights.   So things are moving in the right direction!

We didn't get up to much this weekend as G had to jet off to Paris for work so there were no tourist escapades this weekend.   He's gone for the entire week and won't be back until late this Saturday.   So, I'm going to play tourist without him.  But I won't be going solo.  Nope.  It's my birthday on Friday so a few of my girlfriends are flying in from Toronto for a long weekend and we're road tripping to Clearwater Beach.  WOOOHOOO!  Nothing like a beach weekend with your gal pals to celebrate another trip around the sun.   I can pretty much guarantee that the only thing that will get a work out will be my dancing shoes.   Dancing counts as cardio right?  Ha.

And in other BIG NEWS, I'm finally getting ready to launch my website!!!!  We're getting so close and I'm SUPER EXCITED.   For now,  you can check out my Facebook page and you can get a sneak preview of my logo there.  WHEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ok ok, that's enough squealing.   Let's get to how this last week of training went down shall we?

Monday:   57km bike + 5km run G and I met up with my friend Deirdre and her hubby Jonathan as well as our friends Ruth and Keith for some TT intervals, followed by a run off the bike.  We drove out to Silver Lake in Leesburg and proceeded to create perfect circles in Strava, ha ha.

We did a really good warm up (3 laps) then hammered one lap all out so Jonathan could get the Strava KOM (he AVERAGED 48.5 kph.  BEAST!).  Then we did a couple more easy laps and did a one lap TT.  Then another couple of easy laps and then a 3 lap TT.   Given that it's only February and I haven't really put in a lot of high intensity interval work on my TT bike just yet, I'm SUPER happy with how that all went down.  To see those speeds this early makes me happy.  My normalized power (NP) for this part of the workout was 192W and my 20 minute power average was 215W.   My average watts per kg for each lap of the 3 lap TT were, 3.70, 3.60 and 3.86 respectively.   I'm pretty pleased with that and hope to improve on that over the next few months.

By the time we finished riding it was 12:30 and it was scorching hot.  But I had said I wanted to do a brick so G and I laced up.  He took off like a shot.  I shuffled out of the parking lot, legs and knees hurting.   I wanted to stop.  I figured it would probably take about 1km before I felt ok.  Sure enough just past the 1km mark, everything stopped hurting and I got into a groove.  I caught G and proceeded to bang out a 23 minute 5km.  Not even remotely close to what I used to be able to run off the bike but, you've gotta start somewhere.  It wasn't pretty that's for sure but I was pleased with the effort.

Target acquired!  

Tuesday:  Swim 2377m + 60 minute strength workout.  I knew I was going to need some serious recovery time after that workout so I skipped the Centre Hill ride.  I swam and went to the gym with Dee.

Wednesday:  This was supposed to be a big ride day with Dee but Mother Nature decided to pour rain for most of the day so we didn't ride.  I figured I'd switch things around and run but I missed my window of opportunity to get out.  And I really wasn't feeling that great so nothing happened.

Thursday:  22.5km bike. I hardly slept on Wednesday night so I missed my morning swim.  I was still pretty sore from the gym on Tuesday so I had figured I'd do an easy ride vs. doing the Centre Hill ride.  I got up and ate breakfast but felt so crappy I went back to bed (thank you "Aunt Flo")  It was raining in the morning and then cleared up around lunch so I went out at that point.   Not the best idea, I still wasn't feeling awesome.  But at least I got outside.

Friday:   8km run.  I slept much better Thursday night and had big plans for Friday but we ended up cleaning the house in the morning, then going to see another rental place that we might book for next year.  By the time that was done it was just past 11 so G and I laced up our shoes and went out for a run.  It was 32 degrees celsius.  I was a big sweaty mess by the time we finished.  But I was glad we did something.

Saturday:  77.5km ride with the Cycling Hub group in some crazy dense fog.  We climbed Sugarloaf Mountain again this week.  My legs were definitely feeling these last few weeks of bike time.

Sunday:  76.9km ride with Epic Cycles + a 5.8km easy run off the bike.  I love that there are two different group rides we can choose from!   The Epic Cycles group is a big one. They have a race team so there were some very speedy guys leading the front of the pack.   But the point of this ride was to put in some base miles so it was a nice easy pace.

Swim:  2377m ( I really need to work on improving this, ha ha ha)

Bike:  234km

Run:  18km

Total time:  12h 13 minutes

This week will be a very nice scale back week.  I had a deep tissue massage yesterday and I'm actually quite sore so I will be taking to the pool today which means I should be able to get 3 swims in this week!  I will have a nice 3 day break from training which should have me rested and ready to tackle another big week.

How was your week of training?  It's been a while but I'm linking up with Tricia and Holly for their weekly wrap!  Head on over and check out some of the other posts!

"It's Monday, don't forget to be awesome!"

Coach PK  

3 Reasons To Race Short When Going Long

In my neck of the woods, off season is officially here as evidenced by my first indoor trainer ride last Sunday, boohoo.   Although if the reports are true, we could have a nice mild winter, which may actually mean some outdoor rides if we're lucky!  But we shall see.  For now I've come to terms with the fact that my basement Pain Cave will be put to good use once again this winter.  

This is also the time of year that I start thinking about and planning for 2016 races.  So far I've registered for three races:  The Robbie Burns 8km in late January, The Around the Bay Relay at the beginning of April and my "A" race of 2016, Mont Tremblant 70.3.  I would have registered for more but the 2016 race schedule for my favourite race series isn't out yet.  Just like the last 2 years, I plan on peppering my race schedule with several short course triathlons. 

I know so many triathletes that turn their nose up at short course racing because they don't feel it's beneficial when they're training for a half or full Ironman.  I don't understand that.  Racing is racing.   There are several benefits to adding some short course racing to your racing schedule.  Here are my top 3.

 1. Speed Work

Short course racing is essentially a speed workout.  It's like racing a 5km when you're training for a marathon.  These races are generally done at threshold pace while most of your long course training is done at aerobic pace, so you're utilizing two different systems.  Threshold pace work tends to get neglected when training for distance but if you want to improve at long course, then you should consider adding some short course racing into the mix.  Short course racing teaches you to move quickly, not only out on course but in transition as well.  Fast transitions equal free speed and who doesn't love a bit of free speed?

2.  Brain Training

I know that some people just don't like short course because you race hard and it takes people out of their comfort zones.  That is precisely why I like it.  You get comfortable with being uncomfortable both physically AND more importantly, mentally.  I find in short course racing, I have a laser sharp focus - all I think about is how I'm feeling and how I can keep pushing through.  You develop the mental skills to convince yourself to keep moving forward.  This sort of mental toughness is also important in long course racing.  If you can suffer through a hard 90 minute race, there is no reason you can't make it through a more moderately paced one. 

3.  Recovery Time

Because of the shorter distance of all the legs, the recovery time after a sprint is generally quite short. Most people are actually able to go back to training the next day.  I've had some of my best training days the day after a hard sprint race.  And, if you're looking to light it up on the course, a short two day "taper" (easy workouts) would leave you well rested enough for you to really go hard.

Do you do sprint races?  If so what do you like about them?

Tri Talk Tuesday is back next Tuesday and we're talking about indoor cycling!  

August Already!

Ok.  Will somebody PLEASE but the brakes on summer??  I can't believe it's August already!!!  I guess that's what happens when you jam pack your weekends with races, training, trips and visits with family and friends. 

Last week was a REALLY short week for us.  We didn't get back from Newfoundland until Wednesday mid afternoon so I only had two days of work last week, which was lovely.  I didn't come back to chaos which was also really lovely.   I like being able to ease back into the swing of things versus being punched in the face with busy as soon as I step through the door.  

Despite being away, I still managed to do some kind of workout almost every day, in addition to walking EVERYWHERE.  I think we must have walked anywhere between 4-6km a day, depending on what we were doing.  There was a pretty decent gym at the hotel so I got in a few good weight workouts as wel.  What we did miss was swimming and biking.  The Atlantic Ocean was a balmy 8 degrees so people weren't flocking to the beach to go swimming, ha ha.  And we didn't want to lug our bikes with us on this trip so that was out.  But we made up for it when we got back.

Monday:  40 minute gym workout + walking around St. John's

Tuesday:  11km run with G + a walk half way up Signal Hill and around St. John's

Wednesday:  OFF (travel day!)

Thursday:  Back in the saddle to ride with Morning Glory.  That was ugly.  40km done. 

Friday:  Back in the pool after 10 days off.  Not as ugly as I thought.  The pool supervisor showed up half an hour late so I only got in 1500m before I had to get out.  Better than nothing especially since I was racing the next day.

Saturday:  Bracebridge Sprint Tri - 750m swim, 20.9km bike, 5km run.  Race report to come!  Photo courtesy of Christa Davidson. 

Sunday:  15km recovery run.  I finally felt good!  I'm almost back to 100% I think.  The last 1.5km was tough as my knees started to hurt and my sciatica started to flare a little bit but that is progress. Considering that's my longest run since Muskoka, I'll happily take it.

Total time:  6h 14 minutes.  Training Stress Score:  405 - which means I had a fairly intense week.  This is something I'm going to start elaborating on / including in more of my weekly recaps. 


Don't forget, tomorrow is Tri Talk Tuesday and we're talking Triathlon Favourites!  I can't WAIT to see what everyone posts about tomorrow!

How was your week?  Do you try to stay active on vacation?

Ride to the Hills

What a weekend.  It was hot and steamy and so completely awesome.  G and I went up to Collingwood to train with one of our friends who has a place out there.  I thought Muskoka was hilly.  Wow.   This was a whole other level of hilly.  We rode 102km on Saturday and climbed just over 1000m.  Sunday we did 65km and climbed just over 700m.  My legs took quite the beating.   But it was AWESOME.  The roads are lovely and there were cyclists everywhere.  It was really nice to ride somewhere different.  Our routes don't change much when we're in the city.  I knew we'd be doing a lot of climbing so I left Tom Sawyer at home and busted out Snow Dog.  I had no desire to climb on my tri bike.   I spent more time riding this week that I have running.  My glute is still not happy.  I have a giant knot in it that is clearly putting pressure on my sciatic nerve.  My pelvis is slightly rotated on the right side so my hip is hiked up slightly.  I'm totally out of whack.  I had an appointment with an osteopath last Thursday which helped a bit.  I felt a bit more balanced afterwards.  But the knot is still there so I'm heading back to see Peter again this Wednesday.   I'm hoping his thumbs of steel can crush whatever is left of this knot.  I've been doing my best to work on it a bit every day but it's super stubborn.  So, instead of running, I've been on my bike.  Not ideal given that I've signed up for the Scotia half and I'd really like to run that in under 1h 30.   I'm going to try running tonight.  Fingers crossed it's relatively pain free.

Due to all the riding, this past week was pretty epic in terms of time.  I had wanted to ride on Tuesday morning but pinched a nerve in my neck on Monday at the pool and had to take 2 Robaxacet to relax the muscles.  That totally knocked me out and left me feeling really drowsy and out of it on Tuesday morning.  So, I slept in and took the day off.  I felt better by Wednesday so I made it to the pool.  I had also wanted to get to the gym last week but that never happened either.  Had I been ok on Tuesday morning I could have gone and Thursday morning I had to be at work early so I only managed a ride.  That seems to be the story of my life these days.  That would also explain why my weight has been slowly creeping up and I've lost a fair bit of muscle.  I am aiming to get back to the gym this week.  Twice.  

Despite my lack of gym time last week I still managed to pack a lot into 5 days of workouts.  I'm really enjoying riding with the Morning Glory crew.  The rides are tough but everyone is super nice and very encouraging.  And it's always a big group that comes out so I'm never totally on my own.

This was a special East Meets West Edition...and Michael Barry came out to join us.  So the pace was INSANE.

This is how last week went down:

Monday:  2300m swim
Tuesday:  OFF due to neck
Wednesday:  2400m swim + 7km run.
Thursday:  25km ride
Friday:  OFF
Saturday:  450m OWS (didn't feel like swimming so mostly mucked about in the water) + 102km bike over many many hills.  It was STINKING hot out so it made this ride exceptionally tough.  But I loved every second of it.  Check out that elevation profile! 

It poured on us over the last 5km so we got totally soaked and covered in grit and dirt as you can see by my jersey.

I managed to work on my multicoloured tan lines.

And I re-hydrated with some local beer.

And then we got up to do it all over again. 

Sunday:  65km "recovery ride".  My legs were NOT happy for at least the first 35 minutes or so of that ride.  Then they bounced back and I felt much better.  We still managed 700m of climbing on yesterday's ride.  The descent back to Collingwood was worth it.  I almost managed 70kph going down hill on my bike.  If I wasn't such a fraidy cat, I probably could have hit 75kph.

Total time:  9h 36 minutes.  Total bike distance: 193km.  Run:  7km.  Ha ha ha.  Now THAT is an unusual turn of events.   A huge thank you to our friend Carrie and her pal Justin for dragging us around all those climbs.  I'm looking forward to doing it again at some point!

This weekend we're racing again in Bala.  I always look forward to this race.  Hopefully it doesn't rain this year!  The last 2 years I've done it, it's rained.  Right now the forecast is calling for a bit of rain at least in Toronto so we'll see what happens up north.

How was your weekend?  Was it a scorcher?  

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Happy Monday!  It's been a few weeks since I've done a weekly update.  Probably because I've had nothing to update, ha ha.  After taking almost a week off after Eagleman, I've slowly started to get back into the swing of things.  I'm still not back to my normal workout schedule and I'm ok with that.  It will probably be another few weeks before I get back to that level.  I've got the run leg of Muskoka 70.3 this weekend and I'm sure that will do a number on my legs.   After that it's nothing but short races until Scotia.   Oh and the Epic Tour of Halton.  Can't forget that.

Last week was my first week back at work and it was a doozy.  So. Busy.  I had two 13 hour days back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday and was totally exhausted by Wednesday night.  I also felt like I was getting a cold but I went and signed up for a trail race anyway, ha ha.  I didn't end up getting sick but my sinuses have been bothering me for the last few days.  Full report on the trail race will be coming up later on this week.  Don't forget Tri Talk Tuesday tomorrow!!  (say THAT 5 times fast, ha ha)

This is how I eased back into things:

Monday:  2012m swim (2300 yards).  Our normal pool was closed for maintenance so we ended up in an outdoor pool that was 25 yards.  Nice way to start at Monday!

Tuesday:  OFF
Wednesday:  OFF
Thursday:  50 minute strength workout.

Friday:  OFF (recovering from the previous days strength workout and massage)
Saturday:  11.5km trail race.
Sunday:  60 minutes on the trainer + a whole lot of foam rolling and stretching.  It was 13 degrees and pissing rain so I really didn't feel like going outside and riding in that.  It's SUMMER.  It should be sunny and WARM. 

Total time:  3h 27 minutes 

This week should see a bit more action as I'm planning on getting back into the pool as well as joining Morning Glory for their Tuesday and Thursday morning rides, weather permitting.

How was your week of workouts?  How much down time do you take after a big race?

Only Days Left

This time next week I will be sipping a coffee with my feet up at the Hyatt in Cambridge, wearing my Eagleman finishers medal.   We are down to days now.  Every time I think about it, I get butterflies and I kind of want to puke.  I keep watching the water temperature.  It went down to 68 degrees last week but now it's back up to 71.  Far too close to the wet suit legal cut off for my liking!  I'm praying a cold front sweeps in over the next week and drops the temperature again.  I'm thinking that's not going to happen but I can hope.  This is the current race day forecast.  Hotter than I'm used to but I suspected that would be the case.  But, every time I've looked at it, it's changed.  So I'm taking this with a grain of salt.

This past weekend marked the start of my triathlon racing season.  I did the Woodstock sprint, like I've done every year for the last 3 years.  I love that little race.  It was a really windy day so the swim conditions weren't ideal and we had a fair bit of wind on the bike but I still had a great race.  Full race report to follow later on this week!  And I got to hang out with this lovely lady and her hubby.

I'm really sore after these last two days though.  My glute / nerve issues aren't 100% gone.  I could really feel them on my long run yesterday.  I'm going back to see Peter tomorrow and I had a massage yesterday so things feel a lot looser but there's still some residual tightness.  I'm definitely going to take things easy this week.  I skipped my swim this morning in order to sleep in and I'm crossing my fingers that work isn't too crazy stressful this week!  I have one last task and that is to try out my skin suit in the pool on Wednesday.   It's looking very likely that the swim will be non wetsuit.  Of course I have the option of wearing one, I'd just have to go in the last wave and not be eligible for any AG awards.  I'm torn because I'd like to see how well I could place but I also want the security of swimming in my wetsuit.  I don't plan on taking a Worlds Spot if it happens to roll down so I may just end up swimming in my wetsuit.  It will mean I start a lot later and will be out on the course a lot later but either way, I'm racing in weather that I'm not used to so I don't think it's going to make much of a difference.

Anyway, this is how my last week of training rolled out.

Monday:  OFF
Tuesday:  OFF
Wednesday:  2200m in the a.m. at the pool and then 1050m at the quarry in the p.m.
Thursday:  20km trainer ride, followed by a 3km run off the bike.
Friday:  2400m swim
Saturday:  Woodstock sprint:  750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Sunday:  14km run, followed by about 1600m at the quarry in extremely choppy water.  Not really sure because my Garmin messed things up. 

Total time:  5h 39 minutes.  

Now it's time to rest, eat good food and get some sleep (good thing I watched Game of Thrones last night, haha).  As G says,  it's time to enter the Fret Free Zone.  There's nothing else I can do at this point except enjoy the journey and try NOT to finish this entire carton before we leave.

Riiiggghtt.

Woodstock race report to come so check back for that bit of fun!

The Week That Wasn't

If life keeps going at the pace it's going, my weekly updates are going to start happening mid-week instead of Mondays, ha.  I can't seem to carve out any decent chunk of time to do anything these days.

When things go to hell in a hand basket, they really go.  I had another big week of training on the calendar last week but it just didn't happen.  My back has decided to cause me problems so I had an appointment with Kris Tuesday morning.  He told me my SI joints were locked.  Awesome.  He did a couple of adjustments and then followed it up with some acupuncture.  My back ached for the rest of the day.  It felt somewhat better on Wednesday morning so I at least got a couple of workouts in.  They weren't great.  Thursday morning I had an appointment with Peter who did ART on my hips and lower back, followed up by acupuncture.  I think I wrecked his thumbs.  I was really sore after but I felt much looser.  Of course that meant I did nothing on Thursday night.  Another day of workouts missed.  Friday night I had my bike re-fit and I was so hopeful that it would be great.  Those of you that follow me on Instagram know that it was anything but.   I had my first meltdown on the bike in a very long time.  I was also hoping to get my first open water swim of the year in but it was 4 freaking degrees at the Quarry in Caledon so I opted to sit and sip my hot coffee while G and our fellow Normac Masters pal, Phil, went it.  Apparently the water was warmer than the air.  I dunno, the thought of stripping down to my bathing suit and wriggling into my wetsuit in 4 degrees just seemed really unappealing.

The highlight of my entire week...heck probably of my entire year so far was on Sunday.  I spent Sunday morning working as a Mizuno Run Bird at the Toronto Women's Half.  It was hands down the best day I've ever had at a race.  To cap it all off, I got to see some of my favourite InstaGals, Elise, Michelle, Christina, Robyn, Krysten & Morgan.  The morning deserves a recap of it's own and it will get one when I find the right words.

I ended my Sunday with a second run with my pal David followed by a hot bath and my last bowl of Kawartha Dairy ice cream.  If it wasn't for Sunday I'd say that this past week pretty much sucked.

This is how my week unfolded.

Monday:  31km ride with 2x10km at 190w. 
Tuesday:  OFF
Wednesday:  a.m.:  2450m swim p.m. 70 minute ride, followed by a hard 5km run.
Thursday:  OFF
Friday:  2500m swim
Saturday:  100km ride, followed by a 5km run.  I had wanted to run at least 13km off the bike but my back was having none of it.  So I toughed out 5km in the heat and called it a day.
Sunday:  9km at the Toronto Women's Half in the a.m and then 8.3 with my pal David in the p.m.

Total time:  10h 7 minutes.  I was hoping to be around the 13-14 hour mark. 

I'm heading back to Gears tonight to have my fit adjusted again.  I may actually get them to put it back to my original fit (before I started messing with it), maybe with a few tweaks.  This all started because I wanted to get more aero.  So my LBS dropped the front end of my bike slightly but didn't compensate for anything else.  I then had G adjust my saddle.   Once I got outside, the issues started.  Now this current fit has sort of addressed some of the issues but I've lost a lot of my power and my back still hurts after riding.  So Here's hoping these next round of adjustments do the trick.  I'm just going to have to ride my bike a LOT over the next week before I start my taper.  I've also got my first race of the season at Woodstock in a couple of weeks.  So that will be a good test of whether or not my fit is really dialed in.  I should be able to hold around 190w for a 20km bike.  We shall see.  Now if only my back would settle down, I'd be happy. 

How has your week been?  Did you race last weekend?

Ice Cream + Beer x Good Friends = One Awesome Weekend

Normally I do my weekly recap on Mondays but since yesterday was a holiday and I was still out of town on a training weekend, it's coming at you today.  This past weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend, which us Canucks always think of as the first long weekend of the summer, even though it's technically still spring.  It's the weekend that sees people heading north to open up their cottages after a long winter.  If we had been in the city, I probably would have dealt with the garden.  But that's going to have to wait.  Instead, we headed up to our friends parent's place in Huntsville for a training weekend that involved riding, running and eating copious amounts of ice cream & treats. 

As well as the consumption of a few adult beverages and a few games of Cards Against Humanity.   We even had a knife / axe throwing competition.  In short a good time was had by all. 

G tossing a few knives

 I even ventured into the water after my long run.  Not in my wetsuit, I'm not that crazy.  I went in in my running gear and submerged my legs.  It was cold but not as bad as I thought it would be.  I still figured I'd give things another week to warm up.  This weekend I'll look at braving the open water if the C3 Quarry is open.

The view from where I stood in the river

I was hoping for a bigger week of training this week but my hips and lower back were really bothering me so I made an appointment with Peter for Thursday morning for some ART work.  That meant I had to shuffle my bike ride to Wednesday, which didn't happen because I ended up staying at work late.   So I missed a key bike workout and a run.  C'est la vie.   I still had a pretty good weekend of training.  One more big weekend and then it's taper time.   I do think I may have to look at my bike fit, which I hesitate to do so close to the race but if I can't run off the bike because my back is a mess, then I may have to suck it up and change things around.

This is how my week went down:

Monday:  2350m swim
Tuesday:  70 minutes on the bike with power intervals, followed by 45 minutes of strength work in the a.m.  11km tempo run with WTP in the p.m.  ALL HILLS.
Wednesday:  2300m swim
Thursday:  OFF
Friday: 2100m swim
Saturday:  99.48km ride on most of the Muskoka 70.3 course  (I should have ridden the last 502m ugh) followed by an 8km trail run.  I felt like CRAP on this.  My back was killing me.   If I feel like that on race day, I'm screwed.   There will be more walking that running I'm sure. 

Sunday:  20km on the Huntsville Half Course.  Nothing but hills.  But I had great company which made the hills and the time fly by.  Thanks D!

The Huntsville Half Course Profile

Monday:  31km ride with 2x10km at threshold pace.  In the hills.  Again.  Good thing Eagleman is flat, ha. I took my new Smashfest Queen race kit out for a spin and I definitely felt fast and loud, ha ha.

This coming weekend will be the last big push for me I think.  I'd like to try to get one more big weekend in before the beginning of June but logistically I don't think that's going to happen as the last weekend in May is going to be a very busy one for us...but we'll see.  I'm sure G and I will find a way to make it work if need be. 

How was your week of workouts?  Who else went out of town for the long weekend?

The Big Weeks Are Coming

Haaaaappppy Monday!!!  What a FABULOUS week / weekend last week was.  It was like we skipped spring and went directly to summer.   Saturday felt like a mid July day it was so hot.  It was good training for Eagleman because apparently it can get really hot in Cambridge.  Speaking of Eagleman, they released the swim waves last week.  There are 21 waves.  Yes, you read that right, 21.  I head off at 7:52 am. which means I will be on the run course at the hottest point of the day.  Awesome (not really).   You can't control the weather but you can prepare for it so I busted out the salt tablets on Saturday and used them on my ride.  I think they helped but it was an easy paced ride and shorter than normal so who knows.  But I'll definitely use them throughout the rest of my training.  They'll get a good test this coming weekend.  It's the long weekend so G and I are headed up north to our friend David's parents place for a training weekend.  They live in Huntsville so we're going to be riding the Mukoka 70.3 course.  Bring on the hills.  If it's anything like last year, it's going to be a high mileage weekend for sure.

I dialed back the intensity this past week since I had two pretty hard weeks leading up to this one.  I could definitely feel it, especially in my knees.  I had a stretch of a couple of weeks where I was pretty much pain free, now my right hip, right knee and right glute are causing me nothing but problems.  I have to go and get some ART work done to loosen things up.   Especially since the next two weeks will be my last two big ones before I start to taper.  Gah.

Last week's workouts:

Monday:  OFF.  I was totally wiped out from the weekend and the thought of doing fins didn't really appeal to me or my sore legs.
Tuesday:   am)  7.4km run, then 60 minute strength workout with Justin at Runner's Academy.  pm) easy 60 minute spin
Wednesday:  2200m swim in a.m. 3.5km run in pm. that was cut short by kamikaze gnats.  So disgusting.
Thursday:  Brick #2 of the season.  60 minute ride then a 6.5km run all done before 7:00 am.
Friday:  2400m swim
Saturday:  50-ish km ride, followed by a 3km run all in the mid-day sun. Even with the heat my 3km was speedy.  Must've been the fancy New Balance Zantes.  Full review coming on those later on this week!

Sunday:  2700m swim, followed by an 18km run. Which also happens to be my longest run this year. 

Total time:  10h 37 minutes.

Less Than 7 Weeks To Go

Yup. Just under 7 weeks left until Eagleman.  Geez.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I know I'm going to have to really dial things in over the next few weeks.  Especially my running.  I had grand plans of running 19km on Saturday but my legs had other ideas.  I think it was just as well since they would have been completely useless in Sunday's race.  Instead they were ok, it was my bike handling skills, or lack thereof, that were useless, ha.  But I'll save that for the recap.  I will tell you this, it took me way outside my comfort zone, and, surprisingly I didn't hate it. 

Once again, I sat around Sunday night, wondering what the heck happened to my weekend.  Friday night we went out for our anniversary dinner, Saturday morning we had a nice sleep in, which I followed up with 10km run and a wee spin on my mountain bike, then it was off to grocery shop, take my tri bike in for a tune up and pick up last minute things for Sunday's race.  The next thing I know it's 5:00 pm and we're just making our way back home.  WTH.  I didn't sleep well on Saturday night, probably because I was so nervous about Sunday.  Paris to Ancaster is almost always a full day affair so we didn't get home until almost 5:00 pm.   I had grand plans to cook dinner but I was so exhausted and hungry that all I wanted to do was eat and eat NOW.  So before I got a major case of the hangries, we stopped at Tim Horton's for a bagel to tie us over until we ate dinner.   When we got home, G called this in:

Yeah, I figured pizza and beer was the best way to celebrate my first off road race.   I think I made it through half the beer before I almost fell asleep, ha ha.

Looking back on my week, it's no wonder I was exhausted.  I didn't actually have a day off in terms of workouts.  This was my action packed week.

Monday:  Glorious 17km long run after work.  Clearly it was very humid, ha ha.

Tuesday:  a.m 60 minute strength workout with Justin at the Runner's Academy.  p.m.)  80 minute ride with power work.
Wednesday:  2300m swim in a.m. with an easy 60 minute spin on the bike in the p.m.
Thursday:  60 minute strength & physio work in a.m.  6.5km run in the p.m.
Friday:  Gut busting 2300m swim.  I was still sweating when I got into the car.
Saturday:  10km run followed by 8km on my mountain bike.  Of course I had to test out my anniversary gifts.

You know you have a supportive spouse when these are your anniversary gifts!!

Sunday:  Paris to Ancaster 40km.

No wonder I went to bed at 8:30 last night!

How was your weekend?  Did you race?  Would you ever try an off road bike race?

Marathon Monday - Marathon Work Week.

Today is the Big Dance in Boston, 119th Boston Marathon.  I have one athlete and SO many IG friends racing it, I can hardly contain my excitement.  I love the atmosphere of that race.  It really is an incredibly special event.  Am I sad that I'm not there?  Most definitely.  But I think I made the right call.  I probably would have really ruined my knees had I kept going on the path I was on.   So instead I will obsessively track everyone on the BAA website and the app on my phone, ha ha. 

Speaking of running, things seem to be getting better with my knees.  I'm hoping I haven't jinxed it but this last week has been pretty good.  They were really sore after my bike ride on Saturday but by the end of the day they were fine.  Fingers crossed I'm finally on the path to 100%.  I would have liked to have tested them out yesterday on a long run but alas, I was working.  Yes, working.  Yes, it was Sunday.  Once and a while that happens.  I thought I'd be able to do my run AFTER work but that didn't happen.  I should know better.  I was totally exhausted and my feet hurt from standing on concrete all day.  I didn't really have much of a weekend so it's no surprise I'm wiped out.  We had a last minute job come in on Wednesday evening that had to shoot on Sunday.  So, my stress level was in the red zone for Thursday and Friday.  I was so busy on Friday I didn't even get out to pick up lunch.  So this is what I ate:

Yes, that's a chocolate eclair.  Looks kinda gross but it was delicious.

Friday night was my friend David's birthday celebration but before I headed out to that, the beer cart was out at WS and I hung out with these fine folks for a bit.

Crazy kids.

Friday night was a bit of a late one so Saturday morning was not great.  We had to be on the road ready to ride at 8 am so we could make it out to Guelph for 4 pm.  There was a small group of us that went out.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day other than the insane wind.  We had a headwind for almost the entire ride as well as some crazy crosswinds.  I worked my ass off just trying to hang on to my bike in some spots.  But, I wore shorts and the sun was shining so really, I can't complain too much.

Sunday I had 17km to run.  I figured I could probably do it after work.  BAD DECISION.   I should have sucked it up and done in the morning.  But I didn't.  I chose sleep.  Probably not a bad idea.  Anyway, this is how my week went down.

Monday:  2650m swim
Tuesday:  75 minutes strength & physio work in a.m.  7km run in p.m.
Wednesday:  2700m swim in a.m.,  80 minute trainer ride in p.m with power work.
Thursday:  75 minute strength & physio work in a.m. + 7km run, pm. 50 minute trainer ride + 3km run off the bike.
Friday:  OFF
Saturday:  3 hour ride. 
Sunday:  NADA

Total time 10h 59 minutes.  Imagine if I had actually gotten my long run + my Sunday swim in!  I'd be right where I should be for 70.3 training.  Here's hoping this week is better.  Paris to Ancaster is Sunday so THAT is going to be highly entertaining!

Who else got out and enjoyed the amazing weather on Saturday?  Did anyone race?

Hopping To It

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.  To those of you that are off today...I'm jealous.  I could definitely have used another day off.  We had another fairly busy weekend, although we did take advantage of the holiday and had some good down time on Friday afternoon after our first OUTSIDE BIKE RIDE (woohooo!) but even then, there was always something to do - blogging, reading, plan updating.  Saturday G and I raced.  You can read about it here.  Sunday was my usual swim / bike day and then we were off to my in-law's for Easter dinner with the entire family - my folks come in from Guelph so when I say the entire family, I mean it, ha ha.  The only people missing were my sister and her boyfriend.  They live in London, ON so it's a bit of a hike and I know they had a busy weekend anyway. 

I had a crazy busy week at work and ended up missing the two swims that were scheduled on Monday and Wednesday.  Two back to back shoots with 6:30-7:00 am call times makes morning workouts a wee bit difficult.  Although I did get up at 4:00 am on Tuesday to go to the gym.  Yes, I'm crazy.  I really wanted to do Justin's workout and see how long it actually took me when I could focus.  I was done in 45 minutes and that was with some added bits from my physio routine.  That's my kind of workout!

Whatever my week lacked in volume I made up for in intensity.  At least that's what my Training Stress score shows in Training Peaks.  I guess that's what happens when you throw in a two hour ride followed by an 8km race.  This is what I got up to this past week.

Monday:  OFF - Had to be at work for 6:30 am.  So gross.
Tuesday:  a.m. - 45 minutes at the gym, p.m. 7.5km run
Wednesday:  40 minute trainer ride.  Was supposed to ride 80 minutes but really didn't feel like it. 
Thursday:  8.25km run
Friday:  51km ride OUTSIDE with G and the boys.  It was an absolutely PERFECT day. 

 The ride was followed by this, because well, sometimes you just have to.

Saturday:  5km warm up run, 8km race.  I had wanted to get 16km in that day but once I was finished the race, I didn't feel like running that extra 3km.  Celebrated that evening with this and some amazing pizza. 

Sunday:  3000m swim (the first in a week!) followed by an easy 60 minute spin on the trainer.  Followed by an Easter feast.  Needless to say I'm wearing my stretchy pants today and I'm going to be dialing my nutrition back in. 

Total time:  7h 44 minutes.  This week I'll get back to building up again.  I hope to hit that 16km mark for my long run on Saturday.  Seems so weird to say that but that's my new reality these days.   I'm building my running legs back up.  It's definitely not easy.

Tomorrow is Tri Talk Tuesday and we're discussing the Bike and how to improve so check back tomorrow and get in on the link up!

How was your Easter Weekend?  Are you off today?