Spontaneous Race Registration & Injury Update

I know I had no plans to race in 2013…. BUT…. At work the other night, a friend was chatting about Melissa’s Road Race and I found myself at 7 am this morning registering… or rather, waiting to register and after 25 minutes, I was in!  I decided to race the 10k.  I HAVE NEVER SIGNED UP SO SPONTANEOUSLY FOR A RACE!  And now I am mildly freaking out because it is a HILLY one. Luckily, I have lots of time to train.  Hopefully I will stay healthy and be able to do lots of hill training this summer to help prepare me.  I’m not expecting a personal best.  I have no goals except to finish and have fun doing it.

Ugh.

Any suggestions for places to stay in Banff that will allow pets?

In not so spontaneous news, my husband and I traded in our Elantra for a 2013 Ford Edge.  So far we are loving it.  It hasn’t been enough time to do a proper review, but give me a few weeks and it will be there.

In injury news, my right knee is doing fantastic.  I rarely have discomfort.  I do have occasional patellar tendon tenderness (which my physio said was to be expected) and mild swelling, but nothing too terrible.  Then randomly on Friday night my LEFT ankle was so tender and sore.  I have no idea what I did to it, but I’m guessing it has something to do with walking and nearly falling on ice over and over again.  It is so amazingly icy here and even with winter boots and being careful, it seems very difficult to stay upright.  The near-falls are sometimes worse than actually falling.  I’ve been jarring my back each time, but luckily nothing lasting.  Back to my ankle.  It was painful and sore.  On Saturday I taped it up with KT tape and on Sunday it seemed much better!  Today it feels normal.  I ran on it and it was fine.  Thankfully!  I’ve been having twinges in my inner left knee.  It’s not a pain that I’ve ever felt before. It made me so nervous at first; however, it didn’t increase in pain with running and it’s not swollen.  I’m not sure why the left side of me is now annoying and aggravating me.  But it doesn’t seem like anything that will be lasting issues.  I’m just planning to go easy, stretch often and listen very carefully to what my body is telling me.

For a bit of positivity, I ran 7 km on the treadmill today!!  A personal best distance since my injury.  It wasn’t easy by any means.  My legs were definitely hating me later (but in a good way).  I’m trying not to focus on the fact that I did this 7 km in the time I was doing an easy 9k before my injury and instead focus on the positive part of it.

The night shifts are keeping on keeping on.  My slogan for my time off between these night shifts is “Keep Calm and Take a Nap”.  LOL.  So far so good.  2 nights to go Wed & Thurs night and then I am back to day shifts next week with my week off coming up in 2 weeks time!

No More Physio!

I had a physio appointment this morning and in a surprising twist of …. well… surprise… I’ve been discharged from physio!  I was going to call it a twist of fate, but fate had nothing to do with it.  All of my hard work in keeping up with my physio exercises and doing more has clearly paid off.  I have had zero to minimal pain for about 2 weeks now and I feel like I am getting stronger, especially my core.  Mostly, I am so happy that I was able to successfully complete a 5 km run last week…. something that a year ago this time would have been nothing to even bat an eyelash as has suddenly become such a huge accomplishment!  Of course, I will still be working on increasing my distance and intensity SLOWLY and I am still not planning to race this year, but you know that may change in the future.  He told me that the only restrictions for activity would be deep squats or jumping (little jumps are ok, but no huge jums)…. at least for now until I get stronger.  I am pretty excited about this!

In other news, I am feeling pretty bummed out.  I wanted to ski tonight but I have nobody to accompany me.  I don’t mind skiing on the trails on my own in the daytime, but I’m a little more hesitant to do so at night after dark… partly because of my poor navigation skills.  There is a group here that meets Mon & Thurs nights called Chicks on Sticks and it’s basically a group of women that ski together… apparenlty quite a large group with beginnger, intermediate and advanced and with classic and skate skiiers.  I may think of going… if nothing else, but to meet more people that I can randomly text and get them to meet me for a ski in the evenings!!!  Soon, I will be off more days and will get to ski more in the daytime, which will be awesome.  I love love love skiing in the daytime with the winter sun shining down on me!  I plan to go on Sunday.  I was hoping for tomorrow night, but again, no takers.  Guess I will have to run tomorrow instead (on the treadmill, but as per the above news, I may try and take the running outside soon!!!)

 

Winter Sports

Finally the weather has started to warm up a little around here and I’ve been able to get out and enjoy some fresh air and some winter sports!

Yesterday, I went for a fabulous cross country ski on the Nordic trails.  The only thing better than nighttime cross country skiing is daytime cross country skiing!!  It was so much fun.  I was on my own, but I didn’t care.  I skiied the North side.  No matter how much I run, walk, cycle & ski the north side trails, I always get lost.  I was planning to ski for 45 minutes and ended up being 1:45 due to getting lost on the North side.  From now on, I am only going over there when I am planning a 2 hour ski!  At least now I know that I am capable of it; although I cannot lie, my legs do feel it this morning!  I am also loving my new classic skis and boots.  I’m thinking a product review MAY be in order if I can find the time.

Today my husband and I went snowshoeing!  It was pretty fun.  However, my legs were toast from yesterday’s ski and this morning’s workout (spin on the trainer and physio exercises).  It was short workout, but I look forward to more in the future if we can continue with the fabulous temperatures!!  (-3 today! which is a far cry from the -40 a week ago!).  Since I haven’t snowshoed in about a year, I can cross one goal of my list of January Goals!  🙂  We just did a quick flat and easy snowhsoe near our house.  My glutes are feeling the burn.

Also, out of the blue last night, I decided that in 2013 I am going to attemp taking and posting a photo every day.  Ok, I may not post every day, but taking a photo everyday.  So rather than post here or on FB, I decided to start another blog dedicated to this journey.  Feel free to check it out here http://luckytiffphoto365.wordpress.com/.

Cross Country Skiing!

At my last physio appointment, I was not only cleared, but encouraged to go cross country skiing.  I have been skiing for a few years and usually get out only half a dozen times or so throughout the winter.  It is a leisurely activity for me and I like to mix conversation and friends with a great winter workout!  I only do classic skiing and I’m not very good at it.  Usually I fall lots or have many near-misses.  But I enjoy it.  It is a great way to get out and enjoy the winter weather and get some fresh air. 

I honestly thought that this year I would not be able to ski at all, so when I cautiously asked my PT last week, I was pleasantly alarmed and surprised when he encouraged me to go!  It is a great workout and I always find that it works my hip flexors and glutes, which is exactly what I am working on with my physio exercises. 

So far, I’ve been out twice: Friday night and this afternoon.  I totally forgot how much I love skiing!  It is so quiet and serene out there and it just helps me put life into perspective.  I am so lucky to have the ability to do this activity and to enjoy the great outdoors!  Friday night was quite beautiful… skiing under the moon and stars in the crisp, cool evening with headlamps.  Great coversation also helps the time go while skiing!  I loved it!!!  I’m planning to try and get out at least once every weekend I am off (during the daylight) and one evening a week for the next month or so. I know that once tri training increases, skiing will decrease, but for now, I can easily fit it in. 🙂 

So incredibly happy right now from fresh air, time with friends, good conversation and exercise endorphins! 🙂  And best of all, no knee/leg pain! 🙂

Weekly Training Recap

While I was training for my half ironman, I used to recap the week in training at the end of the week.  I miss doing that.  Now that I have new-found motivation due to my ability to start running again and my recent thirty minute challenge, I would like to start doing weekly recaps again.  I feel like it helps me stay accountable for what I am doing and provides an easy way to look back later to see what I did.

Swimming.  I only got to the pool twice this week and I am ok with that.  I am going to try to swim consistently 2-3 times per week for the rest of the year.  For the most part, I have kept up swimming at least once a week since my race.  The first two to three weeks following my injury was way too painful to swim and I didn’t look for a swimming pool while on vacation to Orlando, but otherwise, keeping it going at 1-4 swims per week.  Already I’ve swam 12 km more than all of last year!

Biking.  There was none.  I have been lazy and have not yet changed out my road bike tire for a trainer tire and set up my bike on the trainer.  Hopefully this will be rectified tomorrow.

Running.  It feels so good to RUN again!!!  I did 3 short runs, each around 3 km each with lots of walking breaks.   All running was done on the treadmill.  I am being very cautious when it comes to running.  I don’t trust myself outside yet, especially since it is very icy and very uneven terrain with the snow.  Maybe in a few weeks once I have built some extra strength and confidence, I can try the cleared trails in the park (assuming icyness is at a minimum).  At any rate, I sure do not intend to run indoors for the whole winter, but at least for the first few weeks easing back into things.

Physio Exercises.  I totally JUST realized that I only did my physio exercises twice this week!  BAD ME!!!  That is so VERY BAD!  This needs to be fixed next week.

Stretching.  I spent time three days this week to do stretching (each after my run!).  I also stretch during physio exercises and did a day of yoga; so technically, I stretched 5 days this week!  Either way, it is better than before when I was so negligent of it.  With my sedentary job, I want to start making it a priority to do a 10 min stretching session during coffee break or lunch break…. it really does revitalize body and soul to do that.

Yoga.  This week marked our last week of workplace yoga.  I’ve really enjoyed getting into the habit of doing yoga once a week.  I was seeing some improvements and then went on holidays.  I would like to continue doing a yoga class at least once a week and start utilizing some videos I have at home.  I’ve also been doing it long enough that I could probably come up with a yoga session pretty easily in my head; however, it is always easier when there is someone to guide you through. 

Walking.  Three walks with the dog.  Wow, I’m a bad doggy momma!!!  Going to try to improve on this next week as well.

Weight Lifting/Strength training/Core.  Three days!  In BT I count my physio under “strength” as well, even though it is technically somewhat seperate.  But lifting three days this week is awesome (ok, I lifted and did core 2 days…. the 3rd day was strictly core!).  Again, a huge improvement from what I was doing, even if they were all time-limited (15-30 mins), hopefully better than nothing!!!

Overall a great week with lots of variety!  I need to improve on physio exercises, dog walking and finally getting my trainer tire on and my bike on the trainer.

Winter Wonderland

There’s just one problem.  It’s not winter yet.  It’s still October.  We have about 20 cm or so on the ground and it’s still snowing.  And it’s been COLD!  -20 with the windchill.  BRRR.  To clarify, that is not really considered cold for Northern Alberta, but considering it’s still October!!  BRRRR!  It is definitely making it a little challenging to be motivated to leave the house.  However, I have walked the dog everyday and even gotten to the pool a few times.  I didn’t get any yoga this week, which sucks.  Still working on my physio exercises.  I have still been having extreme difficulty waking early in the morning for workouts.  I had a nasty cold virus at the beginning of the month and it took me out for a while.  Then my dog was not feeling great last week and was up frequently at night for several nights in a row.  I could barely make it through work, let alone get up for a 6 am workout.

I managed to catch up on my sleep during this past weekend though, so hopefully that will help.

Back to the snow…. I really want to go skiing!  I really enjoy cross country skiing (classic style).  But I am really bad at it.  Normally that wouldn’t bother me, but right now I still feel like I’m so fragile that if I twist the wrong way, I can really injure myself even further.  So I want to be back to 100% before I hit the trails.  Snowshoeing is in, I just would enjoy some company.  Then again, there is so much snow out there, a few times on my walk I was wishing I had worn my snowshoes!  LOL

We’re heading to Edmonton on Wednesday night after work and then hopping on a plane to Orlando on Thursday afternoon!!!  Hopefully the weather will be agreeable for the both the drive and the flight.  We are flying through Toronto, but Sandy is supposed to be moved on by then.

I feel like my blog is starting to become stale, but that happens with this damn injury.  I guess an injury update is required.  I was having increased pain the week before last.  This week seems to be better.  My physio says that even with the increase in pain, my ROM continues to improve as well as my biomechanics.  He gave me more exercises and while I’m not doing them every single day (I should be!!), I am doing them every second day and practicing proper biomechanics on a daily basis.  I’m annoyed at how slow this process is, but I know that I have to be smart about it because jumping back into running too early will only make the whole situation worse.  13 weeks since I last ran and counting…..

Week 7 of Half Ironman Training

7 weeks of training done and in the books already.  I honestly cannot believe that I am already 7 weeks into my half ironman journey!  This week was a fairly low-key week as I was on a run taper for my half marathon which mean drastically decreased running mileage.  I actually quite enjoyed it.  I had amazing amounts of energy this week!  It was also a short work-week as Monday was family day here and I suspect that had something to do with it.

I got out on my road bike twice this week!!!  Sunday and Monday I took my bike outside.  It was glorious!  I did an hour each day with a group and it was FUN!!!  It was a little hard and it was hilarious the first day when I first got on my bike because it was like “whoa!  I have to balance here!”.  LOL.  It was awesome.  I loved it and it made me so ready for spring!  Of course, it was too good to be true and too early to be true as we now have a fresh 15-20 cm of snow down and it is winter yet again in Northern Alberta.  For my third ride of the week, I headed to Karen’s spin class which is always awesome.  It was a strong week on the bike for me.

Swimming was great.  It just felt natural and amazing this week.  I worked hard.  I can really feel my swimming improving, which is great.  With the beautiful weather in the early part of the spring, it made me really start to look forward to summer and swimming in the lake again!  Although I know that is still quite a ways away.

I did only 2 runs this week since I did my long run last Saturday.  I ran a speedy 8km on Monday morning and it felt great ot push the pace.  Then on Thursday night I met up with Karen and we ran for an hour.  I have no idea the distance, but probably around 10km.  We did some trail running which felt awesome and it was just great to have some company.  It made me realize how much I really really miss my friend Crystal since we used to run together once or twice a week before she moved to Red Deer.  It was a relaxing run and got me really pumped for Sunday’s race!

This week was so great motivation-wise as well.  I’ve just been talking to a lot of people about running and that always motivated me!  I also spoke to someone I know at the pool who did Sylvan last year who is now training for IMC and I think it made me realize that I do want to do Ironman.  Earlier in the week, my husband told me out of the blue that he would always support me in any way possible no matter what!  He said he would absolutely cook me meals, go grocery shopping and pick me up if I bonk on a bike ride even if I was 100km out of the city.  I love him so much!

Overall, pretty low training volume due to the decrease in running.

Swim = 4050m  (Holy crappers!  I had no idea it was that much!  Just slightly above what my training plan calls for)
Bike = 82 km (Ok about 30% more than plan called for! hahah.  But I feel great!)
Run = 18 km (still more than what plan is calling for at this point even on a taper!)

No strength training (I went biking instead) and no yoga (due to laziness and not wanting to be sore for the half marathon).  I did do an hour of cross country classic skiing today and did a few dog walks as well.

If you haven’t already guessed it, there will be no half marathon tomorrow.  I am very sad about it, but it was not worth the risk of driving in snow-covered and blowing snow conditions.  So anti-climactic after all of that training and getting on the treadmill on bad days.  Oh well, I made the best of the situation and went skiing!  And I plan to ski again tomorrow and the next day and maybe even also on Tuesday 🙂 

This next week is a recovery week but I kind of feel like the week that just passed was a recovery week.  I have some thinking to do about the plan for running but I am not sure…. should I keep up with a weekly long run of 16km+ or take a break and scale back for the next 2-3 weeks until I start training for my May half marathon.  For this week, I think I will run according to my half ironman plan and make a decision at the end of next week.

Lots of rambling!  If you stayed with me this long, it’s now beer time! 🙂

She’s blowin’ a Gale out there!

According to The Weather Network …. “February 24, 2012 — After above seasonal temperatures and a lack of snow, it looks like winter is making a comeback in the Prairies this weekend”

Just my luck.  Every time I plan to travel in the winter, it seems that snow decides to fly. 

I am feeling so energized right now for my half marathon on Sunday!  I trained hard this week on the bike and in the pool, but it took it easy with running and my batteries are charged up!  I am ready to race!  But if the weather plays out like it is forecasted, we may be stuck right here in Grande Prairie.  Both my husband and I are seasoned to winter driving coming from Newfoundland & Labrador, but at the same time there is the idea of acceptable risk and so that definitely will play a role into our decision tomorrow morning.  For now, we are packing our bags and hoping for the best weather-wise.  I am hoping the forecasters have it all wrong.

On the other hand, if we do get stuck here in GP due to a dumping of snow, you better believe that you will see me out on the cross country ski trails!

It really is a win-win situation…. although I would rather be able to make it to Edmonton to spend time with some great friends and run!  I especially want to see a certain someone who abandoned me last year to move to Red Deer….

Week 5 of my Journey to a Half Ironman

It was a fairly strong week for me.  I felt like I had a lot of fun with training this week.  By Thursday I was feeling tired and I skipped my run Thursday night and then took the whole day Friday off.  I just was not feeling.  I think I need to start scheduling in a rest day where I have no workouts planned but if I feel like it I can do something like a nice long walk with the dog or some yoga.  I think rest is the key to keeping my motivation. 

Running motivation has been hard this week.  I feel like I’m running so slow!  It’s still very icy out there and I feel like running on a surface that feels harder than asphalt is really trashing my legs.  The uneven surface has been great for working the small stabilizer muscles in my feet and ankles, but I just feel trashed by the end of my run.  Also, the pace is VERY SLOW which is quite discouraging for me.  That being said…. I may be running faster than I think.  I still have no garmin so I’ve been tracking my runs with an iPhone app iMapMyRun.  I don’t know how accurate it is and of course, the clock keeps running when I’m stopped at a stoplight or stopped to restrain my dog from scaring someone passing by.  I keep the iPhone in my pocket as well so I’ve been running purely by feel since November for my runs that are not on the treadmill.  It’s discouraging that my long “easy paced” runs end up being the exact same pace as a run that I try to do at a tempo pace or when I squeeze in some fast pickups.  Hopefully my new Garmin will arrive any day now and that should help both with the motivation and the confidence (unless I really am that slow!!!).  Something that has helped me get out the door for the one run I did do during hte work week was the sunshine!!!  The days are getting longer with every day and it is awesome to have the sun beaming down on my drive home form work.  I get home, get changed, grab the dog and GO!  That part is awesome!  Unfortunately, the weather turned cold again this week.  It’s been -20 to -25 celsius…. really not THAT cold…. but I seem to wimp out a little more each year and I find that running in the evening the temperature dips a lot between when I start to when I finish so I’m not so inclined to start out when it’s -20.  That being said, it’s supposed to get warmer again starting tomorrow with a high of +4.  15 days until my half marathon and I know I will finish it, but it will probably be a personal worst! ha!

I am just ready for winter to be over.  I normally really enjoy winter since I love to ski and snowshoe.  The last 2 years we just haven’t had perfect conditions for it.  Even with all the snow that fell last year, I just did not get out to ski as much as I would have liked.  Sadness really.

Swimming has been great this week!  I got in 3 swims and felt fairly strong for each of them.  My core class this week was killer.  During my swim 2 days later, it felt like I had 10lb weights strapped to my triceps.  I guess it was good experience for swimming while already tired!

Biking was meh.  I’m getting sick of indoor training.  Spin class was great though.  I may have to start doing 2 spin classes a week and make up the difference on my trainer to help with getting tired of staring at my basement walls.  Spinervals does help.

And here’s the week by the numbers:

Swim = 3850m
Bike = 50 km (estimated, 1 trainer session + 1 spin class)
Run = 34 km (less than I was hoping for, but such is life)

I did one core class and did 30 minutes of stretching.  No yoga (surprised?  You probably shouldn’t be!).  All in all, a great week of training! Just over 8 hours in total.

15.5 Hours

You would think that I would have looked ahead before I committed to training for this half ironman, but I did not.  Tonight, for some crazy reason, I decided to look ahead.  It was fun to see the volume graph going up and up and up…. until I realized that in my peak week… I will be training for 15.5 hours.  15.5 hours.  FIFTEEN AND A HALF HOURS!  That’s 930 minutes.  That is 9% of your week… not counting preperation time for all the workouts or driving time (to the pool or the lake).  I’m very scared right now.  In fact, I think I might just vomit.  Right now, training is going well.  I’m doing weekly total hours less than before Christmas actually.  I was thinking I should get in and do a litlte more on the bike or fit in an extra this or that.  But after seeing that I’m working up to 15.5  hours…. I think I’m fine to just hang out at my 2 hours of biking per week…. seeing as how I will top out doing 180 km in one week.  YIKES!  I’ve done it before…. the weeks I did Ride to Conquer Cancer.  But it was one week.  And that week didn’t include 5 hours of running and 3 hours of swimming!  I predict frequent massages in my future!

I think we all have that moment where we think “Oh my GOD!  What have I done!??!!”  I guess this is that moment for me.  Yet again.  165 days to train.  I’m terrified.

This week is going well.  I got really excited last week when I checked the Alberta Triathlon Association’s Website and discovered that the local triathlon held in early June will have a sprint and olympic component!  I know it will be tricky fitting it in with my training schedule for the week, but I am really pumped to do the olympic!  It will be a crash course for the half ironman and will give me a chance to experiment a little with nutrition.  Also, I do want redemption for my olympic course run last year where I cramped and it took me FOREVER to finish the run.  I think I can shave 10 minutes off my time from last year.

A bit of a rambling post.  It is very icy right now out due to the thaw-freeze cycle we had last week.  I ran with my dog Tuesday night and it was difficult to maneouver.  Also, I really find running on pure ice to be hard on the joints.  Someone recommended glucosamine and I’ve heard great things about it.  Unfortunately, the only one I can find is manufactures from shellfish, to which I am deathly allergic.

I am still sore from my core class Monday night.  Tuesday morning I could barely walk down stairs.  Tuesday afternoon my abs started to hurt and today I could barely swim!  It felt like I had 10 lb weights strapped to my triceps!  But I got it done.  Swim and Run tomorrow and then Friday will be a rest day I think (may do some yoga).  Hope everyone else is having a great week!  I’m just glad mine is half over! (And I’m kind of wishing that I only worked four 8 hour days every week!)