Adventures to Penticton

Last post

2009-01-16T23:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you for traveling this journey with me. I regret to inform you that it is time for me to shut this blog down. Those who I know read this will be updated personally. If you would like to be kept informed of my travels please email me at qtlibrarian at hotmail .com. or comment on the last update. I would be happy to keep you in the loop of what's happening with Kelsey.

Thank you again for sharing the journey with me.

2000Mine

2009-01-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

My goodness gracious it's been a holiday season. It was so fantastic to be down with my aunt and uncle in Seattle. Those two sure know how to show a girl a great time. I miss them already. Fortunately I've already got my next trip scheduled. As I haven't had the opportunity yet, I wish you all a wonderful and very healthy and fit New Year full of PB's (whatever they may be)

So normally this time of year I look back over the past year and do a wrap up. I've decided not to look behind but instead look ahead to a wonderful year ahead. What's gonna happen you ask?
1. Get FIT
That's right all in capitals kinda fit. Time for swim workouts, (4 times a week, look out Keith that shark behind you might just be me!) time for intervalls on the bike (so I can keep up with Julie!) Time to get those legs healed (so I can keep up with Shannon) Time for killed rock hard abs (Jenna I need your abs Could I borrow them Thursday? I"ve got a date)
2. Kick a little bum in San Fran. Yup I'm mentally signed up. Sharks, photoshopped or not, and all.
3. If I can swing it a road trip down there,
4. Graduate (7 months and counting baby)
5. Somewhere in there get off the perverbal dating bench and back into the game. I never offically took myself off the market but I was just never ready for anything dating ish. Time to smile flirt and kick up my heels (not actual high heels that would be a problem with #1)
6. Have fun this year. This year is all about exploring and trying new things and having a good time doing it.
7. Some how master cooking in my pathetic attempt at a kitchen. (Today was chickpea Quesadillas yummy, yummy, yummy)

I'm sure there are one or two more in there but the mantra this year is "I realize that letting go it not a loss - it's freedom"

Day #3

2008-12-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

I love to sleep. I love naps and sleeping in. But I have a hard time going to bed early. I wish I could be one of those people who wake up bright and early (Julie) by choice, be productive, make a nice breakfast. But nope I rollover thinking ahh sweet sweet pillows. I think becoming a grown up means waking up before the alarm.

Here is an interesting news story on orthorexia. An mental disorter that is persuing good health to dangerous extreams.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5739648

It makes me think of the scene in Notting Hill where he meet a girl and she says she's a fruitatarian. (Believes that fruit and veggis are murdered when pulled off the bush/out of the ground)

On the sixth day of Kelsey...

2008-12-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

#2 Random things about me: I know how to tap dance, speak french, play the flute and kill at bar trivia.

I'm glad you guys find the topic interesting if I can develop it then I'll need you two and your other blogger buddies for interviews!

Seven days of Kelsey

2008-12-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

Day #1 - I have a phobia of making phone calls. I really really hate calling people. I feel like I'm intruding on their time and thus rarely call out to anyone. That being said I LOVE getting phone calls. It's weird I know

In other news. I'm working on a research paper, I haven't got it all figured out yet, but it going to be something about blogging and athletes. If possible I'd like to focus on women using blogs as a motivation tool and how they communicate differently through blogs then female athletes of all shapes and sizes have before.

Thoughts?

This is what freaks me out!

2008-12-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm picking up my toys and going home!

2008-12-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

ahem? Nobody want's to learn 7 things about me?

Where's the love!

Sharks! I ain't afraid of no sharks!

2008-12-16T17:03:00.000-08:00

So I've been feeling pretty low lately. I"m sure it's post-post=post Ironman withdrawl. Nothing to train for had turned me into a blimp! I have a sorta challenge to enter the New Balance Half triathlon. But not really seriously since I've yet to get into the pool. I'v barely been on my bike compared to last year and I still can't run (soon very very soon after many painful scar tissue breaking up) When I entered the lottery for a spot in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon I wasn't really serious. Until this afternoon when I found out i won a spot!

Is it reasonable to be in student loan debt and spend $400 on a race ticket?

I'm so excited I might just go out on a water run!

how can you not be excited!

2008-12-13T00:30:00.001-08:00

Don't forget Kona on NBC tomorrow!

Push's kinda fell apart this week. I'll do the test tomorrow and report back. It's suppose to snow here tomorrow so I might be trapped in my house. It'll be funny to be trapped in the house with 5 degrees and 10 cm of snow! I've been seeing a chiropractor that has been beating the daylights out of my shin's! He say's the bone is healed, now he's working on soft tissue and breaking up scare tissue. He thinks he can get me up and running for the new year!!

Monday monday monday

2008-12-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

Push ups - check
first day of the new semester - check
bike 20km home from school - check check check
Work -

Off to work not time to chat just wanted to let Ms. Pushup that I'm all done week two (especially painful after kayaking yesterday, I should get double points)

A cool thing happened today

2008-12-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

So I was working my first shift in the footwear department at MEC and after a few crazy hours I felt like I was getting the hang of it. Towards the end of my shift my manager took me aside and said that she saw me performing excellent costumer service and she gave me a gift cert for a local coffee house!

Sometimes, every now and then, I might sorta feel like I know what I'm doing....maybe

owwwww

2008-12-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Week 2 set two done! Made it up to 15 pushups. Though now I have to do set three tomorrow eeep

Gotta run I want to make spin class before headed off to work

Jenna the beautiful

2008-12-04T13:56:00.001-08:00

I have to race to work but I'll be doing my pushups later tonight. I'm loving this challenge, I can't wait to be able to do 100 pushups. Thanks Jenna for getting all of us excited with a new challenge!

My third term starts on Monday I think it's gonna be a doozy! Between work and school it's going to get busier then that term but I"m really enjoying my wok at MEC, this week I have kayaking lessons! I have access to the kayaks down in the harbour anytime I want! Plus the gear closet, we can borrow whatever we want! The great thing about being there is how inspired I feel working there, it's really making me feel like I have to get outside!

My goals for next term are
1. Meet up with my classmate friend Teresa at 8:30 every morning to get a head start on the assignments.
2. Start biking to school once or twice a week (20 km each way) By January be ready to bike all four days a week.
(now if you combine both of those it means that I'll be leaving for school at 7:30 ouch, rough life for a student who's in the habit of watching The Hour at 11:30 every night!!)
3. Join the Masters Swim group at YMCA which means 2 swim mornings a week (which means getting up at 5:30 two mornings a week, double ouchy)

I know most of you have a coach and all that but Chucky V has posted a winter workout on his blog. also for anyone who signs on you get all the advice and help you want from him!

Damn Jenna

2008-11-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who know me know that I cannot back down from a challenge. Call me chicken, cluck and swat your arm like a bird and I'm in. So Ms. Jenna was looking for volunteers to join her 100 push up challenge and of course I'm in. I've been seriously lacking in the upper body strength department and looking for a serious challenge.

Right now I can do 3 serious, full form push ups. So starting next week I'll be on week one of the challenge. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'll be doing my set and aiming for 100 pushups. (I secretly think this is Jenna's way to get me to update more!!)

Other news I'm 4 papers away from the end of this term. One 5 page, one 10 page and two 2 page essays by Sunday at midnight. My laptop and I are about to get really, really comfortable. The good news? When I wake up on Monday morning I'll be on a two week break! plans for the break include

- FInally making an appointment with the 'magic cure all shin splints' chiropractor
- Explore the island, a trip to Ladysmith and Tofino perhaps?
- A few bike trips, a ride up the Malahat!
- Join the YMCA (or Crystal Pool)
- Work many, many shifts at MEC
- Clean out my car

In other news I'm on day two of my detox. I'm hoping that I can get rid of the gross, run down, lethargic feeling I've had for a month or so now. Part school, part family stress, part financial, part end of IM training, part picking up my life I've been feeling grotty lately and I'm hoping this detox will kick my butt back where it should be.

patience Jenna Patience

2008-11-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

- too much studying to do
- got 92% on a final exam!
- celebrate later
- too much reading

Final,

2008-11-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

Finals, finals, and more finals

More to report in a few days

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

Best Costume Ever

Tonight I'm dressing up for a halloween party with the seaman's unit.

Jenna, that one's for you

Kelsey is trying to figure out what the universe is trying to tell her

2008-10-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

So after realizing that the condo just isn't going to sell I'll be taking it off the market at the end of the month. I've been trying to rent it out for the past month and to no avail. If it fails to rent out by November 15th I may not be able to return to school next semester. I have no idea what the universe it trying to tell me.

1. I love Victoria I feel like this is where I'm suppose to be right now
2. I love school and thrive off the student living
3. I got a part-time job at MEC and can't wait for it to start

But seriously, what I'm am I suppose to do?

Hot Point Fitness

2008-10-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long pause but I'm sure you guys are getting use to it by now.

I got frightfully ill last week so I had to put the workouts on pause for the week. But I'm all better now and we're off like a dirty shirt. I looked though my book shelves for insperation and found my book Hot point fitness / Steve Zin. So again I'm back on a schedule. While it's nothing near what our dear friend Julie is up to (very impressive hot stuff!!!)
This is what this week looks like

phase one
3 weight sets per week for the next two weeks

phase two
4 weight sets per week for 2 weeks

phase three
5 weight sets per week for 3 weeks

in addition to all the weight sets I'll be doing 45 minutes of cardio and an abs set each time.

I'm hoping to join the Navy Masters Swim group next week. Or the YMCA close to my house has a masters swim group as well. Now that i have a home here I'd like to settle into a routine. Also, visitor are now welcome! though all I've got it a bachelor but I know I can always borrow a foamy or we can cuddle up together in my murphy bed!

Back on the horse

2008-10-08T00:31:00.001-07:00

As a way of dealing with midterm stress (and to pay penitence for my weekend of debauchery in Seattle) I got back on the workout horse today. I've been sporadic lately but I build myself a plan for the next three weeks. Hopefully it'll get me through midterms with less stress. I'm still not allowed to run so after an hour yoga class I took to the row machine today. Finishing 2000m in 9:45, I have no idea if t sportatic his is good, or pathetic but I was sweating up a storm and will remember to wear my heart rate monitor. Then 35 minutes on the elliptical. The gym on campus has spin classes on tues and thurs I thought I might add those to my already overpacked schedule.

Otherwise things are good.
I have a 5th offer (and last if it doesn't take this round I'm forced to rent it out and attempt to find the cash by some other means) on the condo
It's my birthday in 8 more sleeps (though it looks like I'll be spending it in my dorm room writing a midterm paper and working on a presentation)
I'm checking out a promising rental suite tomorrow morning, I might just be out of the dorm by November after all

Now I must sleep and wake it 6 hours for more homework before class. Reminder: I did this to myself

Small world

2008-10-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to update since Sunday I can't believe how fast the time flies.

Several things to note. I am not living in my car. I'm back on campus in dorm life. Me Lola and Betty are all snuggling together in a teeny tiny very expensive room.

I went for a great bike ride last weekend with the author of Triathlon for Women: a Mind-body-spirit Approach for Female Athletes Ms. Lisa Lynam who I'm hoping will become my new triathlon friend here in town! I knew that I would get along with her when she showed up for the ride wearing an Austin City Flyers jersey the exact same one I own! She's got amazingly powerful legs. I hope that I can get there someday!

Otherwise I'm just about to start midterms so my brain is on information overload!

If you hear a large boom that's my brain exploding!

On the road again

2008-09-21T23:14:00.001-07:00

Do to some crazy roommate situations I'm back on the search for a new place to live. Turns out people don't like it if you call them a nosey noserson. Especially when they are being nosey. More stress then I really want on my plate right now. But hey at this point I'm getting really really good at packing up all my belonging.

but in semi training news. I got back on the bike today. I actually felt like almost my old self again. A quick ride out to Central Saanich and back but beautiful. Turns out Lola LOVES bike rides to the ocean! It was awesome to feel my legs spinning again. But holy hanna the island is nothing but hills. Someone at a bike shop warned me about them but I thought to myself... lady I'm from the foothills.. ya know the base of the mountains... Yeah it's a whole different story here, nothing but rollers everywhere! Still is was a beautiful ride.

Red Bard Tour
Find more Bike Rides in Victoria, British Columbia

I'll keep you posted on my new digs just as soon as I find some. In the mean time how difficult do you think it is to sleep in a Smart Car?

For Jenna

2008-09-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

I've been called out. It's time to continue the updates even though they have very little to do with training and mostly have to do with how beautiful it is out here. Without further ado here are some picture

Other wise things are alright. I'm still very much in a settling in phase. I find I'm missing talking to people I know and instead find myself having the same 'I'm not I don't have any friends' conversation over and over and over. It makes me miss my friends.

I'm really looking forward to joining the Tri Cub in town. I saw some swimmer in Thetis lake tonight when I went for my traditional post school dip. I miss having a group of people to help motivate me. I think this year will be all about the short races for me. I have a feeling that I'm fast instead of long. (Jenna & Julie that's a dirty joke set up just for you two!)

I'm still feeling sleepy from the race. I find I'm needing at least 9-10 hours of sleep a night instead of my usual 7-8. I'm going to wake up early and hit the gym. Say hi to a new IM friend and do a brief workout and stretch and instead I hit snooze over and over. Maybe tomorrow, Maybe Friday...

Obligatory Cruiser Betty arrives in Victoria Photo

Obligatory Fun at the Lake Photo

Obligatory Kelsey wearing a funny hat while holding a crab photo

Kelsey's Bikini Photo as promised

Theory paper avoidance technique #1

2008-09-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Hey do you know what motivates you to get your Ironman Race Report done? Avoiding editing your 4000 essay, Muted Group Theory on Women in Sports. (yes, Julie your copy will be waiting for you in your inbox before the weekend is out)

So with out (too) much delay I give you my 2008 Ironman Race Report

It's 4:20 and the alarm goes off and before I even open my eyes I can feel the butterflies moving around in my stomach. This is it, the morning I've been both looking forward to and dreading for a year, it's Ironman. As I rush around double checking everything and making panicked phone calls (why did I wait until last night to read the info sheet! Reflector tape!) the time is flying by.

On to body marking and you can feel the anxiety from the crowd from a block away. I drop my special needs bags off and bump into a TriCops teammate, happy to have some company to nervously chat with in the lines. As they mark me up I ask for a smiley face not aware how much pivotal that smiley face is going to be later in the day. As I walk into transition the wave of anxiety grows. I keep in mind some advice I was given months back and as I smile at everyone I feel the butterflies starting to relax. I look up at the sunrise and think uh oh, red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in morning... crap! Not willing to let a little nersery rhyme ruin my day I get every sorted, drop off my dry clothes bag thinking how warm they will feel in many, many hours and cross the first of many timing mats.

The swim... This was my foe. I had worked so hard and had so many set back with the swim this year I wasn't sure which Sharkie was going to come out. Okotoks 8th outta the water sharkie or panic and flail sharkie from Chinook. I had a brief giggle to myself as I thought about Shannon's flower powered shark and thought again what noise a flower powered shark would make? I had worked hard for this day and wasn't prepared to let a little bit of swimming get in my way. Then the butterflies were gone and its game time. Fat Boy Slim was blaring and I started to get psyched! The gun goes and we're off. I had placed myself off to the left but as we headed into the water I realized I had a lot of open water and started to beeline over to the main pack. I was calm and ready to get thrashed around a little bit if it meant getting on some quicker feet. Thinking about Sly Corbett's many swim mornings were working. I was psyched to be there elbows and all. I kept myself entertained. In no time we were at the house boat, I waved at the scuba diver, one more turnaround before heading back to the peach. I have to admit this was the only time of the entire day I found myself bored. I was being (perhaps overly) cautious with my pace and just wanted to have a great swim. There are only so many times I can think in my head 'my blueberries, my blueberries, my blueberries and stretch the stroke, stretch the stroke ,before you started to get a little stir crazy. The hotel was getting closer and then I started to hear the crowd. As I got out of the water I was so proud of myself. That swim was the scariest thing to me a year ago. I remember feeling panicky just watching the swim. I never thought I was going to be able to make it, I never thought I could become a swimmer. But there was no time for gloating it was time to get on that bike!

Having ingesting too much lake water my stomach was sketchy heading out of town. Trying to remember what everyone had said about pacing the first 50km I just let them all pass while I tried to bring my heart rate down to a more reasonable 175 while trying to jam as many fig neutons into my tummy as possible! By the time I got to Osyoos my tummy wasn't feeling too hot. Then outta nowhere as I was climbing up Richtor Pass I got extremely dizzy and very fatigued. I thought it was WAY too soon to be feeling this terrible. I remembered this feeling from California and thought sodium, that's what I need, and lots of it! I threw out my dream time and said now we're here to finish. Be cautious and don't do anything stupid. By the time I got to the 3rd roller I had brought myself back from the dead. I felt strong but I was still cautious about the pace. I found myself in better spirits then I have ever been climbing Yellow Lake. I was having such a great time on the bike I never wanted it to end. I love the bike. I make my major error at the top of Yellow and grabbed two waters, not wanting to take the time to get the lid off and get nuun in I figured I was fine and just tried to get hydrated with water. I believe this to by my major error of the day. Coasting back into town I started to feel extremely fatigued again but excited knowing I was almost 2/3 of the way to the finish line.

The transition from bike to run was quite possible the most painful experience I had had that day. My toes were throbbing from my bike shoes. My ankle immediately spoke up and announced it's displeasure, while my shins throbbed in agreement. My tummy was extremely unhappy. I couldn't figure out what it needed. I hobbled my way out of town as the rain started, giving me a misguided sense of relief. I made a rookie mistake and thought, I'm good I don't need any salt tabs in this rain. Fatal error #2. I was getting dizzy as I ran out of town and sucked back one of many gels. It booted me temporarily and enough to get past my family looking fine but by the time I hit Skaha I was done. I was overheating, extremely dizzy and my vision started to go. Everything went to tunnel and blurry in the peripheral. I started to get a little freaked out and was getting upset that they didn't have any chicken soup at the first few aid stations. Damn those fast athletes! By the time I hit Mclean Creek Road I was weaving all over the place panic started. My shins were screaming and I could see my ankle swelling. I thought briefly about asking a paramedic to check me out but knew they would pull me off course. I did a self check, I knew as awful as I felt I could finish this. Seeing all the TriCops on their way home helped keep the negative spirits at bay and a hug from Jenna was a fantastic push up that hill into OK Falls. A former team-mate was looking rough heading out of OK Falls she see me as said 'oh poor Kelsey' I was floored and more then a little pissed off. People were encouraging the whole way and here is this person I've known and trained with telling me poor Kelsey! That was the anger I needed to push down to OK Falls and back up that mother of a hill. That and the flat cream soda in my special needs bag!

I was amazed by the women offering dry shirts at the half way point. Having heard so much about the Penticton fans I was still impressed by the energy from the crowds. They were crutial coming back. The great thing about the turnaround was that I knew every step was bringing me closer to the finish. I was still pretty dizzy and out of it but able to jog the back. I started dry heaving around the 20 mile mark right in front of Cal Zarinski. First, I was amazed that he was sitting out there cheering everyone in. Then he ran up to me and made me look him in the eye as he told me I was going to be ok. I will never forget that. I started to round the last corner before the city limits and started to feel even worse. This is where I knew the mental game was going to be all I had left to get me through. I started to think about Tricia my warrior from last year's trip to Austin and all that she has had to endure. Leukaemia, Necrotizing fasciitis and still the most positive person I've ever have the pleasure to met. I thought to myself suck it up Wiens you are able to do this, you choose to do this. As painful as this feels right now you will feel better in an hour. I don't know that I could have made that last push without her support.

I had made a deal with myself earlier in the run that despite everything I really wanted to finish under 15 hours. I'm not sure why this number was so important to me but as I got to the top of main street I realized I had 16 minutes to make it there. So out came the trademark Wiens sprinting legs. I don't think I will ever be able to tell you where this energy came from. I'm sure scientists say it's adrenaline but I like to think it was all of my friends and family back at home watching online helping push me that last 20 blocks. As I got onto Lake Shore I still wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it. I pushed and pushed and wait for the mother freakin turnaround, where the hell was that flipping boat! I knew I had to book it to make it back in time. A spectator shouted out I had plenty of time to make it there under 15. I could hear the announcer say we've got less then 5 minutes left. I swore under my breathe and begged my legs to keep moving the roar of the crowd pulled me in and I looked at the clock, I still had a minute and 10 seconds to spare. Entering the gate is a blur, the voices the crowds I tried to look for my friends and family but can't see anything but that number, the only thing voice I hear as I throw my arms up in the air to cross that tape is “Kelsey Wiens you are an Ironman”

There are so many things that you can't prepare yourself for. I had thought about that moment for a year. Keeping it in mind when I freaked out in my swim at the half, those months when I wasn't able to run, the frustrations at my training, the stress of not speaking with my Father, the joy of a perfect ride in California, the hours in the pool with Syl, the hill repeats on Edworthy, the school acceptance, packing, endless trips back and forth from Penticton. So many hurdles to overcome, so many things that bring you there. Only you know how it feels, only you know what it took to get there, only you know that nothing stands in your way.

I want to thank so many people. You'll have to forgive me if I forget anyone I promise it's not on purpose. To my friends and family who put up with my rants about triathlons, skipping dinners to train and generally being a pain in the rear. Thank you. Days like this are made possible by you.

To the blog-o-sphere. Shannon, Susi, Darryl, Jenna Keith and Julie thank you for always being there with words of encouragement and funny stories. Many dark days were brightened because of you guys.

To my Tri-Cops Team-mates. You guys made the day brighter with your cheers and support. Brad and Kath especially. Without you guys I don't know who would have answered my insane newbie questions. Thank you so much for taking such great care of me over the weekend. It would have been a lot harder without your support.

Mo, this is still all your fault! Thank you for being the first person who believed I could do it.

Thank you to Lisa and Chris at the Bike Barn, Lola felt great the whole ride thanks to you guys!

My bike boys, you guys from TCR's spin class and the California trip. I kept balance because of you. I miss my boys. Riding in Victoria isn't the same as those long ride south of Calgary. Jamie, thank you for all of your encouragement letting me bend your ear on all my Ironman questions. I can't wait to see you out there in 2010

Back on the coast

2008-09-02T22:54:00.001-07:00

Sorry guys I know this is just a teaser for what you really want. Sadly I spend 4 day madly packing up my condo, trying to stay awake for a few hours each day without wanting to nap constantly. Tip: don't try to move several days after Ironman

Now that I'm back on the island. After a brief pit stop in Penticton to pick up Lola and do a nice recovery ride up Green Mountain. It's nice having friends in such a beautiful city so conveniently located between me and Calgary!

Now I have a 8 page paper due on Sunday! Eeeeep Sorry guys that race report will be done soon I swear!

My Temporary Race Report

2008-08-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Swim - Awesome
Bike - Managed to come back from the dead
Run - Combo of dizzy, dry heaving and shuffling but made it under my do or die time

I'm back in Calgary for a few days to pack up my still unsold condo so the full race report will have to wait until after I get back to Victoria I'm pulling a Shannon!

Thanks for all the support for those that came out and I felt all the good wishes from those of you at home!

Done like Dinner

2008-08-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Residency #1 - Check
Ironman - pending completation
Condo - don't ask

Residency is done. I feel like singing a little Alice Cooper. It feels awesome to be done but I jump right back into major stress #2 followed immedietly by major life stressor #3. Soright one down. Two to go!

I think my hotel has wireless I'm sure I can update you when I get out there. Now I have to pack up this cell they call a dorm room so I can hop on the ferry bright and shiny tomorrow am!

Peace out home fries

Some pictures of campus, beach day and the lake

2008-08-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Thetis Lake

2008-08-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had a crazy day at school today. I'm really looking forward to coming back and getting into a slightly slower groove. I don't even that busy but everyone else is freaking out so then I start to feel overwhelmed and then panic ensues. Madness I tell you madness. Also, at some point I need to start thinking about Ironman. But I'm reserving next week for that!

First in pre race tradition my number 1801! Baby! Watch for it!

Second, my ankle is doing MUCH better. It was a little bit sketchy on Monday so I took an extra day of rest (which was helpful in addition to the pile of work I have to do!) but now it barely hurts at all! I'm a little nervous what 42km will do to it. But no sense stressing out about it, can't control what's gonna happen that day, so I can't worry about the maybes'

Third, I swam in the prettiest lake ever today! Sorry Julie. Turtle lake does have some advantages. Being so clear and the turtles but this lake had islands! Two of them! I did a loop of the lake and another pass around island #2 all in 45 minutes. Jenna you'll be happy to know that I too freak out over seaweed! Totally freaked me out! Also, the rather large fishies. I'm not use to swimming with large fish in a large school. I felt like I was going to swim through them. Blech

So I'll update with a pic once my brand new camera battery have finished charging. grrr

2008-08-11T20:11:00.001-07:00

Best Headline Ever!

Famous last words...

2008-08-08T19:04:00.001-07:00

So all week long people have been asking me about my training and my typical response has been something like

'well I'm in what's called a taper mode now, so I get to relax and just try not to get injured' Da Da Daaaaaa

Several things to note in this photo

1. I am in bad need of a pedicure
2. I have some very funky tan lines
3. I have very unattractive ankles
4. The right ankle looks slightly more swollen then the left

Yup! I sprained my ankle this morning. Out for a early morning run and while quick on my feet running through the beautiful trails I hit flat ashfault and WHAM I went down. Landed funny on my ankle and thanks for playin'. As the pain hit me all I remember was getting these flashes of Ironman. I swore and hopped to my feet and it seemed like it was alright but about a half hour into class and I got this horrible throbbing pain. After class my very gentlemanly classmates helped me to the cafeteria and then went and asked if the school had crutches. I'm very impressed with my classmates right now.

So here I am trapped in my dorm room (yes, Greg it's elevated with an ice pack!!) writing papers until the swelling goes down! Could someone send chocolate Almond Milk! whimper

Just another day in paradice

2008-08-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sigh... Another day here in my enchanted forest of a campus.

I woke up early and hit the local pool. Sadly there isn't one on campus! (midly annoying but I guess the sky and sea views will make up for it) There is a pool just a 2 minute drive from campus, nearly empty.. perfect right... sadly. It was like 82 degrees! (I found out the exact temperature from a classmate who is a lifeguard there) It's insane! It was like swimming in my bathtub. A bathtub that's been taken over by aquasizing seniors! blech

I'm going kayaking this tomorrow night! I love this place!

BC 125

2008-08-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Wow what a crazy day! It was my first official BC day. I got up early and headed out for my first island bike ride. The first hour was mostly uneventful as I took a lot of wrong turns just trying to find my way. At one point I ended up riding along side the lagoon, with the ocean on one side of me and the lagoon/school/castle/baby dear and just when I was breathing in the sea salt air and saw the swans! Seriously the swans were overkill. It's not like I didn't love it here already but then you went and added in SWANS! Come on! I have to go back to Calgary some day!

My bike ride was nearly perfect until the flat tire. I tried to change it but for the life of me I couldn't get the stupid Vittoria wheel completely off. After fighting with it for over an hour I gave up and started walking, bike shoes and all. Thinking to myself I wonder how bike shoes are for my shin splint!

I was trying to figure out what to do. 30km or so from the campus and with only $20 in my pocket and no one to come rescue me. I had a brief moment of 'I miss riding in Calgary' until I stopped and looked around and realized that I didn't care that much that I was walking, as long as I was walking in BC! So I carried on until I found an open bike shop and pleaded for help. I was smugly told that my tires were not at all the right tire for riding here. Poor Lola whimpered. I now have to go find myself some gater skins or something equally tough to handle these rough roads. I had noticed that for a city that's so pretty there is an awfully large amount of crap on the road. Glass, staples, and such. So off to the bike shop for Lola on Saturday for some new Victoria worthy tires.

After all that I headed into Vic Proper to check out the BC 125 birthday party (or as I like to call it Welcome to Kelsey to Victoria Day! It was very strange, for the first time in my adult life I knew that despite the very large crowd I wouldn't bump into a single soul I knew. Both exhilarating and sad.

Anyways, here a photo to tease you with!

That's all folks...

2008-07-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

We had a killer swim last night. All you suckers who missed it. My friend Tanya from Tricops came out and she stayed on my tail the whole time! When we stopped for a break we both said how hard a workout we were having! It was so nice to be able to swim with someone who's at the same speed as me!

Sorry Darryl, your too fast! Normally Darryl speeds off and then I just putter along WAY back! But it was a great swim and I want to send a HUGE Thank you to me dear friend Al. I am now that much more prepared for Ironman Canada because of you!

So that's it folks! I'll see you all at IMC and then probably back in Calgary when I'm (hoping) to have sold the condo and finally able to actually pack up my belongs. I'll still be kicking around, but with classes starting things are likely to get crazy busy.

I wish you all a happy and healthy August. I don't want to read about any pre-race injuries! I mean it!!

When am I moving...

2008-07-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Shannon asked me this question yesterday. A few days ago my answer would have been

"Saturday! I'm crossing the BC border and doing a dance of joy. I'm free from my condo, my terribly useless job and crazy family!"

Sadly, the third conditional sale on my condo fell through yesterday. So we're back to square one (-$20,000 as that's how much the market has softened in the past three months square one)

So new (less then ideal) plan is that I will leave Calgary this Saturday for three weeks of school, classes start Tuesday August 5th. Then drive to Penticton August 21st, staying just long enough to race and maybe get a good nights sleep before I depart for... wait for it... Calgary. With any luck (and I know that I have very little of it right now) the condo will have sold in the next 3.5 weeks and then I'll be able to pack it up get back into my car are drive all the way back to Victoria. My poor little car won't know what to do with all those km. Classes start again September 2nd. At some point my luck has to change and something will work for me right?

Also, Ironman has decided to grace Calgary with it's presence. I introduce Ironman Calgary 70.3

Question?

2008-07-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is what's interesting about the human brain

This picture makes me feel all cold prickly

Where as this one makes me all warm and fuzzy

Strange

Sunday

2008-07-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

So after biking all day Saturday the right thing to do was hit a bar and say goodbye to my friends. (Note to self don't try to plan a going away on a weekend in the summer, nobody can make it) After many great chats with the very lovely people who came to say goodbye I did make it home at a reasonable hour.

I made it to the lake with enough time to pick up a doughnut for Al and a cup of tea for myself, my head was a touch fuzzy after the previous night's events. Nothing like a little open water swim to rid you of the devils drink! I FINALLY got to meet the infamous Curtis! Darryl will tell you we swam and chatted, they may have. I swam and swam and swam to catch up with them before they would take off again! They both are very strong swimmers! Fortunately for me I had Al in the row boat to keep my company!

I brought Lola down with me and after the swim headed out for my bike ride. As soon as I got on her I knew my legs were done from the previous day's hills. Now I know most of you are use to riding on your own. I'm not, I always have someone to chat with and push me up the hill. Sunday was a long and painful journey up Road to Nepal and back. Finally the storm clouds pushed to to stomp on the pedals a bit harder to get back into town before another storm hit!

All in a a very successful weekend of training. (except that pesky lack of running)

Jamie's Saturday of pain!

2008-07-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

I had been waffling back and forth about if I should go out an do Sylvan 1/2 Iron. I'd signed up and paid but I had so much on my plate this weekend. In in end I decided that my time was better spent in town then driving back and forth central Alberta!

Saturday I join my boys for a last big bike ride in Alberta (yes, I know I will probably ride my bike in Alberta again) I was looking forward to a nice ride and an opportunity to say goodbye to some beautiful roads instead I got a day o' pain. The ride started off simply enough. Out to Millerville, I had intended on talking some of them into stretching the ride out a little longer. I was hoping for 6-7hours of riding, we stopped for a quick food break in Millerville and things were all good. The thin cloud cover kept the hot sun at bay and the temperature was very nice. I noticed that as we took off for the Road to Nepal things were starting to fall apart for me. I was more tired then I should be but thought it was just a case of break-legs I pushed on and away we went down Nepal! (or rather up Nepal depending on how your see things) Jamie had convinced us to take the road up the Leighton Centre which I remembered from the previous week except we road it downhill. It puts the Cochrane hill to shame, it's long and on soft pavement so you feel like your riding through peanut butter. I started cramming Fig Neutons into my mouth two at a time! The the water ran out! It was still 20km from anything! I was starting to get a wicked side stitch and the boys were at least a km ahead.

We'll call this the crater point. I manage to buck it up and get to Millerville, slam a Gatorade (error #1) and an Eatmore (error #2) and start to feel better. Until I got back on the bike. My stitch is getting worse by the second. I thought maybe it's an electrolyte problem so I start sucking on 1/2 a nuun tab hoping this will calm it down. (fatal error) The effervescents in the nuun has combined in my tummy with the cramp and I could barely breath. Finally I catch up with the boys and tell them to carry on and I'll make the last 30km into Bragg on my own. I barely make it up the next hill and something has to be done. I started thinking about if this was next month and it happens on race day what do I do...

I parked my bike and lay down in the ditch! I knew my tummy just needed some time to settle down as I'm getting off I lift up my jersey and my normally mostly flat tummy has expanded to the size of a beach ball! I look 5 months pregnant or I'm smuggling a watermelon! I stared up at the pretty sky and gave myself 5 minutes to relax. I said if this happens race day you can't just quit so what do you do?

It worked! I got back on the bike and started drinking water, I tried to make myself burp but to no avail. My Grandmother would be so proud! Finally after a whole water bottle full of h20 my tummy started to move again and I ripped through the last 25km into town I thought that maybe I would add Elbow Falls onto the day and stretch it out to 7.5 hours. Then a bolt of lightening hits. I'm not speaking metaphorically here I see the dark clouds and think, maybe I'll just call it a day... No sooner then do I get into town and say good bye to my very patient and awesome group then the sky opens up and golf ball sized hail comes down.

Jamie\'s never ending pain
Find more Bike Rides in Bragg Creek, Alberta

Several important things learned today
1. I can come back from the dead
2. Keep on top of the water
3. Maybe throw a couple of tums into my bento box, just in case
4. Eatmore + Gatorade = Bad
5. Ensure early on the bike, was good. More Ensure I say!
6. Don't listen to Jamie when he says it's going to be a short ride (oh wait I already knew that one)
7. When faced with a stitch what I need to do it ease the pace back. Not push harder to try to keep up with the boys!

Really?

2008-07-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

Now if anything were to ever happen to Lola or Betty I would be beside myself. Someone recently commented that I may have crossed the line from cute & quirky into a tad obsessive when it comes to my bike.

Is it wrong to talk about my bike in the third person. I don't have cats I have bikes.

But a bicycling theft ring? That one of the city's bike shop owners was in on?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/07/25/tto-bikes.html?ref=rss

One month

2008-07-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

So one month from today we'll all be sitting on the bike thinking really? How did I get here? I feel 100% ready for the swim (which is a crazy shock to feel actually prepared for the swim??? I'm still not 100% sure on placement but I feel like I'll follow Julie race morning and just try to catch a ride on her feet!!!)

The bike I feel like I'm mostly read for. I know I can do the distance. I'd just like to have a little more power up Yellow then I did last time. But again I'm pretty comfy about how that will go. The only worry I have a now is if I have a bike mechanical but there is no sense worrying about it since I can't control it!

The run however is a whole other matter. I'm not at all prepared to run a marathon right now. My shin was calming down but this week it's been very, very, VERY angry. I haven't been able to put any distance or length of time in. I know I am capable of pushing myself through it and I've always said it's not about what time I finish, it's about finishing. Right now I'm not mentally prepared to walk. I'm hoping that the good long rest I'm giving it in combination with some trail runs I'm planning once I'm out in Victoria will get me up to speed.

A month from now is going to be a pretty specataular day.

One of those days

2008-07-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

I had a really great weekend of training. It's amazing watching just how easily the body responds to pushing it now. I rode 160km on Saturday and we had a beauty of a day. Went south through the rollers and had a great day. I took my brand new sneakers to the gym to test them out on the track for a quick 30 min run. I FINALLY have permission to run again from my chiropractor. I'm not going to lie it was pretty painful. Those shins of mine fought hard and resisted every step. I know 42km isn't going to be easy but the goal is to keep moving forward (and take as much Ibuprofen as I can handle!!)

Sunday was an absolute gem of a day. I got a much more reasonable start with one of my favourite riding partners. We headed out to Red Deer Lake and did a similar loop but backwards and through a few of Jamie's secret paths. It was the nostalgia tour starting at my Junior High School and going through my 'hood. The classic Kelsey move of the day was when Jamie stopped for a pee break and said don't go to far we have to make a right. The suddenly I was on this wicked downhill! It was awesome. About 1/2 down I start thinking that I haven't seen a right turn and start worrying that I've missed it. But I was having too much fun to care and continued to whip down. Finally Jamie meets up only to inform me that the right hand turn was like 50m from where he left me. yup, I had to climb all the way back up! Much less fun! The jokes on me though, Jamie loves a good climb and 10min after we got to the top he informed me that we could have looped back on the road! He's a very bad man.

Riding in southern Alberta is definitely going on the con's to moving list. Hopefully there will be some decent riding on the island to make up for it. (who am I kidding biking in March will be thrill enough!!!)

It't been a weird day for me. I've been really up and down all day. I think moving is going to be tougher then I had expected. Life rarely wraps itself up in a neat little box for me.

Without a safety net!

2008-07-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

First: Kicked bum on the IMC bike course this time. Bike time was 6:36 with some stopping for food and water bottle refills. Several things learned.

- Fig Nutons good
- Infinate Bad. This is the third long ride in a row I've been on and Infinate has caused and uproar in my tummy! Say goodbye to Infinate for race day. I'm back on the real food for my tummy circuit!
- Yellow lake and I will not ever be friends. I hated that stretch before and thought it was just because I had been left on the side of the road for dead, begging spare tubes off anyone I could trade favours with! Nope, turns out it's just plain painful. Plus, Infinate was having round three in my tummy at the time. If anyone wants my giant tub of infinate it's all yours. I'm still sick just thinking about that taste in my mouth
- Jenna and cowboy look as awesome in person as they do zipping past in the opposite direction!

Swim course (sorta, actually 3960ish)
- 1:24 rock star! It was serious chop out there but instead of freaking out I decided to roll with it! Like rock and roll, I pretended i was body surfing and took each wave. It was actually fun! Now I just have to do the same thing with 2000+ of my close personal friends thrashing around.

Today I'm giving my notice at work without the added benefit of knowing where the money to get myself through the next year will come from. I'm terrified but I guess it's like Yellow Lake. Hate it coming up but that just makes the downhills that much sweeter!

Last minute training trip!

2008-07-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

SO I'm off for a very last minute training trip to Penticton! Sunday to Wednesday. I know it seems a little silly to drive all that way for less then four days but hey my car is cheap on fuel! And I quite enjoy that drive!

I'm very excited as I'll get to swim the IM course on Wednesday before I hop in the car and head back to town. I think that will be a real confidence booster for me! It's sick but I'm really looking forward to it!

Unfortunately I've have to postpone next week's Wednesday night open water swim. I'm hoping that Mr. Woo will be free Friday evening to let us all in for a quick dip!

I biked 140km today in less the 5 hours. I'm a little sleepy, you'll have to forgive the rambling nature of this post!

Have a fantastic

Another Wednesday another swim

2008-07-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

First I met up with Cory at TCR and he spent a tonne of time with my setting up my aero bars. Ever since I first got them they have never felt comfortable and I didn't feel like I wanted to get down into them. Lola got a new tape job, a new saddle and a much more comfortable aero position. We are both happy campers!

Only Darryl and I made it for open water practice this week. Conveniently IG scheduled a dinner meeting for the same time hmmmmm

The water was very warm and part way through I hit several warm pockets, Darryl swears it wasn't him! It was too warm for a wetsuit swim and we both were sweating in up. Swimming with Darryl is a little different then swimming with IG, substantially less breaks. There was some wind so we got some waves which were interesting and then on the last stretch we were swimming along and out of nowhere BBQ! It smelled sooooooooooo good.

The lovely and obliging Al got us in, took over coaching duties and was our photographer. We both felt like pro's with our own photographer and row boat tour guide.

Conveniently IG showed up just as we were getting out of the lake...

Pictures from the sprint

2008-07-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Leg

2008-07-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Impression: There are marked changes of periostitis/tibial stress syndrome involving the mid and distal left tibia. blah blah more doctor speak

Effectively it means that I have a very bad shin splint that could turn into a stress fracture.

What it means for me...

Ice, ice and more ice
Taping my shins
Taking Pineapple Enzymes for the inflammation
Ice and ice again
NO running on pavement
More ART then I can shake a stick at
Did I mention the ice?

Not the best news but very managable. No matter what the results were I knew that not doing Ironman was never an option. If I had to put on hikers and walk the entire 42km and finish at 11:59 I would have. Knowing my legs as I do I knew that it was only a matter of time before they got angry with me. I'm more upset that I'll have to put on hold my plans for trail running in Victoria, as all of my doctors have said that when I'm finish with IM then I'm on strict orders not to do any running of any sort and give my shins some badly needed rest.

Does anyone know of any trail runs in or around Calgary?

Fine lingerie worn by tight triathletes everywhere

2008-07-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just wait until the guys get a load of these socks my RMT had me buy!

My first top 20 finish!

2008-07-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

12! I was 12th in the swim! That's crazy!

Jenna, Allan & Darryl all did amazing this weekend. Kudos to you all for a fantastic race!

I got caught in the tornado warning driving back and had visions of my car like the cow in twister. Some farmer would be talking for years to come about the smart car that landed in his barn!

Oh yes, and a new nickname was born. They called me "Streaker" all weekend long! I suppose there could be worse nicknames to have but I think I might have a new pre race tradition on my hands...

I'm officially back to school today.

greetings from stones plains!

2008-07-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm updating from my fancy smancy new iPod touch (a super fun new toy) I just wanted to tell you all that I totally rocked my sprint race this morning. I was totally calm and managed to get out of the water in the first wave! In every other race I've done its been very easy to find my bike, 5 or 6 bikes left!

See you all back in Calgary!

Photographic evidence of me in a lake

2008-07-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

My great friend Al who's adventures can be read about here heard my desperate plea for lake access after the half IM and came to the rescue!

We had a great swim, the weather was good the lake is clean. I managed not to freak out. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to feel like I'm ok in a lake and then get to race day and freak out. It's maddening. Since Keith already let the cat out of the wetsuit I guess I have to share with everyone my ooops moment last night. I forgot I had a chiro appointment at 5:30 so I had enough time to grab my backpack from my house and race to the south attempt to get fixed up and then head into the DEEP south to meet everyone. I was almost at my appointment when I realized that I had forgot to grab my towel and then the deep sinking realization that I had also left my bathing suit air drying in the spare bathroom! So I had to go eau naturale under my wetsuit (Julie is going to love is one!!) My secret was safe until IG said that we were going to practice our transitions! My secret was out, the lake was kid friendly and I choose to make the dash to the change room to struggle and shimmy out of my wetsuit all by myself!

In leg news. It still hurts, I think it's more of a muscle thing then a bone thing. But I got a call from my GP's office and they have the results but will not share them over the phone and the next available appointment is on Tuesday!!! Talk about maddening.

Oh the short week

2008-07-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

So today is my Monday and tomorrow is my Friday

Fernie was grand. I had a great time chilling out and getting away from it all. It was a fun mix of training and eating and drinking and chatting that combined with the hot tub made for a nearly perfect weekend.

I'm sure most of you have seen the pictures from Julie and I's swim adventure. Her lake is as beautiful as she promised it would be. She's a rock star in the lake ladies and gentleman. Don't let her tell you otherwise! She kicked my butt all over the lake every single time!

Otherwise it was biking, biking and more biking. My leg seems not to be in any hurry to get better. It's still pretty painful, I did attempt a run on it, I cut it short because it just wasn't having any of it!

This week I have another lake swim tonight followed by biking on Thursday and racing on Saturday. I think the race is held in the lake the kids from my high school use to skinny dip in! I certainly wouldn't know anything about that...

My Chinook Finish Photo

2008-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

sadly no superpowers

2008-06-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I might have a stress fracture. They don't know and my GP didn't want to mess about with my leaving in 5 weeks and the race in 9 so off I went for a bone scan today. I was dissapointed that after being injected with radioactive gunk I didn't have any superpowers, nada, zip, zilch, nothing! What is up with that?

I'll keep you guys posted but it'll be late next week (at the earliest) that I'll know anything.

In the meantime I cannot be left around electronics. In the past 2 months the following has happened
1. Left my ipod in the washing machine, fortunately it didn't make the full cycle just the soak. It sorta worked for a few weeks and then had a last gasp and shutter a few weeks ago. Leaving me with my old school ipod that has 1 hour of power, I know there are children starving in Africa but it's a simple thing that I miss!
2. My cellphone mysteriously fell out of my pocket on my way home. Resulting in me having to miss a very important open water swim practice! And having to invest in a new phone.
3. My favourite recovery drink Chocholate Almond milk with hemp protine added leaked into my digital camera and sadly there will be mo more pictures for this girl. It sucks I really liked my camera and miss being able to take pictures of my adventures.

Fernie, British Columbia - Weather Forecast - The Weather Network

2008-06-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Fernie, British Columbia - Weather Forecast - The Weather Network

What's worse the taper or the recovery?

2008-06-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

Man I'm bored. I'm all keyed up and ready to jump back into training and The mean (though very correct) coach that Greg won't let me! That's not entirely true, he'll let me train just not do the hill repeats I want and instead wants me to take it easy. Stupid Coach being all knowing and smart and stufff.

I don't think he understands how difficult take it easy is to me. Fortunately I do have several things to keep me occupied.

1. Jazz Festival tonight - I'm going to check out the Pink Martini's
2. Drinks with friends before I leave the city tomorrow night. Yes Greg, we're going back to 1410 the land of pink beer. Though this time I'm in the mood for Hoogaarden where the glass is the size of my head!
3. Quick lunch hour run with my favourite pacer before departing for Fernie for the loooooooooong weekend. I'm taking Monday off too so 4.5 days off baby!
The weather looks something like this

Friday Hot
Saturday Really Hot
Sunday Flippin' Hot
Monday Scorching
Tuesday Hot with a side of hotness

My turn! Chinook 1/2 Ironman Race Report

2008-06-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

While I sit here and wait patiently for Susi's full race report (hint hint) I guess I should write mine.

Woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday. They were calling for it to be 27ish and it was coming true! I got down to the race site with plenty of time to spare, got set up and chatted with my Tri-Cops friends who were volunteering. I finally got into my wetsuit at 7:30 and went down for a swim. The water was surprisingly pretty warm all things considered. I got my face wet and went out for a few laps and the good old panicky feeling started to come back. WAIT NO I'm not suppose to feel this way anymore! I'm over this stupid fear of lakes thing! I pushed through it and swam a bit longer and was feeling a bit more comfortable. I got out chatted with some more people and tried again. Not great but I could get my face in the water and actually swim. Everyone lined up and off went the horn. I thought I was sorta in the back half of the pack but wasn't and on came the full scale freak out. I couldn't breath and there was people everywhere. It was bad. Rose from Tri-It stopped to ask me if I was ok and I could barely squeak out a 'I think so' so onto the back I went to try to calm down. I check my HR and it was somewhere in the 190 bpm, which is somewhere in the zone 4 for me. WAY too fast for a swim. Ended up doing the entire first lap on my back and so my course looked something like this.

Chinook 1/2
Find more Swims in Calgary, Alberta

At one point the kayaker came up beside me and said I'll lead you in, rather humiliating. Got out of the lake and check my watch it was 37min! 3 min shy of my total goal time! I realized that I had to hustle to get out of the water before I was DNF'd All I thought was 'just get me on the damn bike' as much as I hated that swim I knew I wouldn't quit I was looking forward to the rest of the day too much to stop. With nothing but open water I tried again and was much calmer and swam the entire second lap, Finally getting out of the freakin' lake at 51.02 in 154 place. Not last but not far. Lesson #1 learned: stay WAY, WAY, WAY in the back instead of attempting to get on someones feet.

Onto the bike. I was worried that I had expended so much energy swimming that I wasn't sure how the bike would go. About 5km in Lola bucked off my Profile bottle and I had no water. Two bottles of energy drink on the bike and that was all, my tummy was not very happy and clearly wanted water not this crazy mixture. But I started picking people off and having a lot of fun. The course took us past my Junior High School. Good old Red Deer Lake! I laughed and thought of my old gym teacher who frequently made comments that my brother and sister clearly got all the sport genes in the family. Look at me now Mr. Martin! I digress. The bike was awesome, I love that route through Bragg Creek and was reminded of the CTAPP night ride when we did that route at 4am to test out our lights. I FINALLY caught up with Keith and Estela around the 30km mark. We chatted briefly about my awful swim and then Keith used his advantage to sip past me on the down hill before I climbed up the valley. I had a hard time convincing my stomach to eat the Cliff bars I packed instead it seemed happiest with gels and the banana from the half way point. Clearly some more experimenting needs to happen in the next few weeks. Some serious cross winds coming back which was seriously disappointing. I knew I didn't have as many calories in me as I would have liked going into the run but it's all a learning process right? Got off the bike in 3.24 and my bike place was 87th overall. Lesson #2 Learned: Don't put all your water in one place. Lesson #3: get into my areo bars and stay there. You will learn to like it one day.

Onto the run. I got off the bike and headed out chatting with an athlete who had been hit by a truck! I passed her on the bike course and she complimented me on my biking and said she was surprised that I was back so far in the pack. I explained my crummy swim and she said it freaks her out too and it's just about getting in as much lake time as possible. Away we went on the the baking hot run course. One of the volunteers said the standard 'you look great' I told him he was lying and he said no really you look better then a lot of people I've seen! I saw him a few more times and he started calling me 'Smiley Girl' Stopping to use the facilities on the course my friend Graham had caught up with me, I was surprised because I didn't remember passing him on the bike and assumed that he was WAY ahead of me. Graham is a chatter box so we ran together for most of the two laps. I was happy for the distraction of his conversation. He's training for Louisville and invited me to train with him in Sylvan which I will take him up on for sure. We grabbed a coke at the final rest station and WOW does that stuff work wonders. We jogged up the hill and picked up our speed coming into the last km. 2.17 on the run. I was happy that we managed to run 99% of the course. Walking the aid stations and the hill on the first loop. Lesson #4: Coke is your friend, for someone who has very little caffine in her day-to-day diet if used properly could have really helped me earlier in the run.

All totaled 6:37.46 my friend Wes and his darling kids surprised me showing up at the finish. A touch slower then I had hoped for but considering how the day started I was just happy to be able to see that finish line. On a whole I'm happy about the race considering how bleak things were looking earlier in the month and I had serious doubt about even making it to the finish line combine that with how I felt in the lake and I'm pretty damn happy about crossing the line. Sure it would have been nice to be faster, stronger but the lessons I learned and the confidence the race gave me are priceless.

Hopefully I can still get Sylvan in and attempted to get into a lake at least once a week between now and IMC. Lake access anyone?

wooo wooo Departure t-minus 17 hours and counting

2008-06-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Sleepy and tired

2008-06-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I had to bail on swimming last night. I was really exhausted and decided that there was a reason that IG puts a solid rest day in my schedule before a race and I should listen to him! I'm still feeling sleepy today but I think that's more from a letter from my Father delivered last night then from racing. Not what I wanted just before a race but sometimes life is like that. We'll just push it aside for this weekend and deal with it later. I'm a big fan of Napoleon's battle plan. 'first we show up, then we see what happens'

I picked up my package and the shirt is Awesome! So let's hope Ms. Susi's theory stands true. Great shirt = great race! I'm feeling more confidant about it, though a little freaked out. Which I'm sure is normal for any first time 1/2 Ironman race. I'm just trying to remember that whatever happens out there it's going to be a PB!

Question? Do you put water in your profile container or your electrolyte/whatever drink?

Now time for a little roadie humour

I somehow doubt this is what IG meant by rest...

2008-06-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

That's right that me on a fixed gear riding on the Velodrome last night. Sorry Greg no matter how hard you try you cannot kill the roadie inside me! It's crazy fun. Riding on the top was wild, and the fixed gear bikes took some getting use to. You have to keep pedaling or the bike will buck you off! Sucks I'm moving I would be all over this in a heartbeat!

And look what happened to my pretty road bike! She's been Triathloned! I think she's worried the other road bikes will make fun of her!

Out of hibernation

2008-06-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wow that was one long banana break! I could try to explain my absence with my quick wit and charm but instead you're going to get the Cole's Notes version. After the May long training camp my training took a massive and sudden nosedive. I totally lost my motivation, my runs were terrible and painful, I couldn't be bothered to get up in the morning for half my swim practices. This in combo with some pretty massive personal issues resulted in my hiding like a frightened turtle for a few weeks.

With help from Susi, Jenna and Greg to name a few and a quit jaunt to Seattle I am happy to report that I'm ready to rejoin the land of the living and just in time too! Keith and I will be battling it out on the Chinook Half Ironman Course this weekend and if he lets out his inner shark then I'm in deep trouble.

I'm feeling (mostly) physically ready but not at all with the details.
1. I bought a pair of tri shorts that don't have the elastic band at the bottom hence ride up to my neither regions in short order. Options include buying another new pair of tri shorts or attempting to change out of my bike shorts into run shorts in transition. Help!
2. Water. They are going to pass me water on the bike course. Do I dump unscrew water, unscrew the water bottle and then transfer. This seems like it will require more coordination then I have? Or just ride with enough on me? Or suck it up and get the profile water bottle for the tribars? (even though I will face mocking and ridicule from my roadie friends)
3. I'm still a bit confused on the getting calories in? Recommendations?

Oh No! It's a Worldwide Banana Shortage!!!

2008-05-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I was at Co-Op the other night and saw a sign up so I went to the website to check it out. Apparently due the massive flooding in Ecuador has resulted in a potassium shortage! This is probably an actual problem but it makes me giggle to think there is a banana shortage! (mostly because I think banana is a funny word to say!)

Otherwise things are ok. This weather is getting me down and I'd like to curl up in a blanket and just listen to the rain fall. Unfortunately that's just not an option right now. So instead I swam this morning and ran at lunch to pick up the endorphins.

I have 6 hours of biking to do this weekend. Depending on weather I'm going to switch them up, I just don't see my mood improving with 4 hours on the trainer!

Last Day!

2008-05-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

A quick ride and we headed out of town. Did you think my tire issues were though? Silly two more and I could officially put the bike on the rack and not look at it for a few days until I could calmly say to her "lola why would you do that?" Sadly it's just time for new tires!

11+ hours later and we were all home again!

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend!

penticton day three - Thank you Lord of Flat Tires I needed that lesson in humility!

2008-05-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

IMC Course day. First I have to say, it's nothing to be afraid of. If you've got the base miles you can totally do this course. Richters and Yellow were not nearly as scary as I thought they were going to be. The rollers well they just plain rocked. The flat tires not so much

Flat, after flat, after flat, after flat. It was a LONG afternoon. By the last one I was close to thinking about chucking it in and calling it a day. But by god I was finishing that stupid course if it was the last thing!

Thank goodness for Critical Speed's team they were very helpful and provided lots of tubes and C02!

I learned that I have to get use to riding by myself. I'm so use to the chatter of other cyclists that going it alone was boring. This is the next mental barrior to push through.

penticton day two - have you meet my friend Darryl?

2008-05-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the big day. I was going to have to get into the lake. Julie and I drove to Oliver together and she kept talking and probably didn't notice my nerves but I kept looking at the lakes thinking 'really? is it wise to get in there?'

I bumped into a friend from Calgary at the lake in Oliver and thought "great now I'll have an audience to witness my freak out" I suited up and jumped in (or rather carefully and causiously wadded) I put on my goggles (note to self pick up tinted goggles) and went under and something happened. NOTHING I was relaxed and felt fine. None of the panic from last summer! I was so excited! Julie and Susi stayed close for the first bit and then we headed out farther into the lake and still NOTHING! Awesome.

We hopped on our bike and zipped down to Osoyoos. Sadly for me I had forgotten my bike shorts back at the hotel and had to do the entire 80+km ride in running/tri shorts. Fortunately with all the miles I've put in this year it wasn't as painful as I thought.

I did manage to get into my aeros a couple of times (those crazy things at the end of my pretty, pretty road bike) then a nice long hill. Man I love a good climb.

I was all set to do a brick after but Mark was already hip deep and it looked so inviting. Damn you Mark! Damn you Lake!

Keith, Jenna you'll be happy to know that I cracked a beer after showering up. I was told I was a bad influence after giving one to Andrea! Soon you'll all be under my powers of persuasian!

Penticton day one

2008-05-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well after a 130+km tow to Kamloops, I didn't make it for the big bike ride. I wanted some QKT but that was overkill! So after a good nights sleep and 3 more hours in the car I FINALLY arrived in Penticton mid afternoon on Friday roughly 14 hours later then I wanted too. I stopped in to visit Chris and Lisa at the bike barn and confirm my stay with them for IMC and let Lola visit her birth place!

I zipped out on the bike for a quick 60km trip just looping around town and places I knew. I did manage to stay away from the vineyard tastings...

It's just so nice to be here I already don't want to go home!

Remember when the May 24 meant beer and beaches?

2008-05-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well it still does but now you ahve to work for it! A year ago I did the Golden Triangle ride and just about died. It was misserable and raining and cold and I was not happy (photo graphic evidence can be found here) Not I'm about to head out on a Four Days of Pain weekend. What a year can do.

I'm feeling more fatigued then I'd like to be heading into the weekend. I feel like i haven't been able to sit still for more then a hour in the past month. Everything has just been go-go-go since early April and I need a breathier. I decided to drive out to the camp on my own to work through some dad/family stuff but generally to exhale.

Also, there better be beer. I come from a world where you work hard and then have a beer! Am I wrong?

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Tuesday afternoon bike

2008-05-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

While all of you were toiling away at your desks I got to break free and ride my bike yesterday! It was a beautiful day and some very nice peloton riding was had. Too many km to say (I'm afraid to tell IG!) but it was lots and it was fun! Peolton hardly counts right?

Today was a very, very early and sleepy swim. For the first time in a while I wasn't really enjoying it. I kept getting water up my noes at the wrong time and feeling panicky. Twice when we were doing 200m 1 arm drills I had to flip over on my back and take a few deeps breaths! Hopefully this isn't a precursor to this weekend and I will not panic and horribly embarrass myself before all of you.

Otherwise I switched my run to today at lunch.
1. A friend/advisor called as asked me to join him for a run
2. I want to leave as early as possible tomorrow so I can get into the lake and test out my "don't panic" theory!

The run went really well. I haven't been out for a run, run since the half. I did a terribly brick on the weekend and that's about it. I was a little nervous about how it was going to feel. It was a nice easy 45 min zone two run 8.5 km. Probably too slow for Jamie but a nice chatting pace and I got to feel like my running mojo came back! Lets hope it stays through the weekend! I have to try to keep just with Julie!
Zoo Crescent Heights route 8.5
Find more Runs in Calgary, Alberta

Just for Keith!

But Greg, it's my off day!

2008-05-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Sleepy so very, very sleepy. On my third cup of green tea and I'm just starting to feel coherent. Oh what a weekend

First I did had two non-sport relating outings! Yeah, to me still having a social life! Though I did go see Ironman, which has nothing to do with Triathlon's but is totally awesome.

Saturday I hooked up with some of my boys from the Cali trip. The closer I got to Bragg Creek the deeper the snow got. The temp was around 7 when we started but the sun eventually came out and we had a great ride. I was feeling super strong for the first 60km then we stopped for a snack and my legs said uncle! They had a discussion and I'd been too mean to them recently and they just didn't want anything to do with that. I think I need to start doing more hills, I can keep pace on the flats, and I love a good serious climb but it's the rollers that kill me. I was suppose to do a brick after my bike but we went out for coffee instead. (Does drinking tea right off the bike count as brick?) I tried to mapmyride it for you Keith but it kept getting angry at me so I stopped. I'm too sleepy to argue with it!

Sunday
Got a late start due to Mother's day. Did my daughter duty and headed out to meet a friend in Bragg again. This time we went out to Elbow Falls and back. Some decent hill climbing fought the always there headwind heading out and coasted the downhill/tailwind coming home. This time I did sorta accomplish my brick. My shins/ankle/calf screamed at me for 10 min and then I stopped. I've really lost my running mojo since the half. Perhaps I left it in Vancouver? Maybe I should go check. IG's also added swims to my Sunday routine, hopefully in the future I can get it done before the bike or be on the bike earlier. I went from Bragg to Superstore (picked up some TimTams for IG, I'm a total teacher's pet, I know) dropped off my sisters birthday present, ran home dropped off groceries grabbed my swim bag and hit Talisman. It was 7pm by the time I hit the pool, I was sched for 45-60min. I think I managed 35min before I was too bored (apparently I can't swim without man candy!) and hit the hot tub before heading home to make dinner/pack for tomorrow and clean up my house incase anyone wants to buy it! Wow no wonder I'm so sleepy today!

So tomorrow I'm biking to Edmonton peloton style. I think my team is responsible for 110km, weather looks good and hopefully we'll have a great time raising attention for the cause!

The ridiculous state of my legs

2008-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

So I had jammed up something on my left leg. It didn't like having to climb 4 flights of stairs after a half marathon and then walking all around Victoria for days on end. I spoke with IG and he says "it totally normal, your joints are upset at you for going that long" My first thought is when did this become normal behaviour?

So off to the Man Candy RMT. (I'm sure that's not his official title but I think it makes Shannon giggle when I say man candy) He started working and an hour in he says "are you tensing up or is that just the ridiculous state of your legs?" He figures out that my left foot/ankle isn't working properly because of a whole lotta really old scar tissue. Then he proceeded to make me cry! I'm not joking it was so painful that for the first time ever he apologized for causing me so much pain and then went in for more! The good news is that this morning my foot/ankle/hip have never felt better!

So Business Friday in the pool with the man candy again, sigh life is hard. I got to gloat about my half time which I think is the first time in my life I ever got to gloat about anything sport related. As for the swim, there was blueberries, there was man candy and there was a lot of 400m sets.

A girl takes a few days off and you guys go around the bend!

2008-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

What happened! Jenna's kicking butt at 100km rides, I don't even want to get started on what happened to Susi and Julie (seriously ladies when people say do you want a ride in a rain storm you say thank you! then hope into the warm truck, don't keep riding, crazy girls When God/Alla/Wookie send a canoe in a flood take it!)

Alright first an actual half marathon ost, that I owe Jenna!

I was trying really hard all week to be excited but not nervous about it. It might be my first but it will be my first of many so no reason in the world to be nervous or to allow other to try to make you nervous. I've always been a if you're not having fun then why are you here kinda gal. So I had a good coaching meeting/beer drinking session with Greg on Friday night (he totally made me have the second beer!!) I was feeling like a cucumber until I got on the plane. As soon as the wheels left the tarmac I realized that I had taken my new cushioned orothotics out of my runners and put them into my hiking boots the night before. In my early morning bleary eyed stated I decided to wear my slip on/off sneakers not my hiking boots. I didn't realize my mistake until that moment. I have a few seconds of "Freakin-Frick-Frack" and then realized that I should just chill, I could get insoles at any drugstore and could run on my old orothotics just fine. I had a relaxing day with my Aunt, Uncle and Finola, driving the Stanley Park of the course. Took some pics at the sea, I had a nap in the car while babysitting and generally chilled out. After a awesome carb loaded seafood pasta I crashed early and managed a solid 8 hours of pre-race sleep!

I was up early had a quick shower and changed into my YELLOW Livestrong shirt, I decided to wear my running belt in case the water situation was bad, pulled up my Cancervive "up your Cancer" arm warmers and was good to go! I had a quick breakfast of two eggs and 1/2 cup of oatmeal and toast! (Poor IG just rolled his eyes at me when I said I never eat before a morning workout) We hopped the Skytrain and headed to GM Place, us and 5,000 of our close personal friends! We found the best secret washroom ever! If anyone ever goes to the race find the team locker rooms. They were unlocked and no line up! Awesome.

So I hug my uncle goodbye and attempt to figure out where to place myself. I couldn't find the pace bunnies so I tried to look for people with the typical IM logo/tattoo sadly I was on my own. I had decided to leave the Ipod at home so this was my first run without music, if I can't use it on IM then I need to start getting use to it. The horn goes off and it's about 2 minutes before I cross the mat. Run like the turtle not the hair I keep telling myself.

The course itself was gorgeous. Except the part through sketchy town. Some people had clearly not been to bed in several days. When we entered Stanley park it was stunning, the fog was lifting off the harbour with the boats and sunrise and everything, it was pretty spectacular! I started to feel pretty strong around the 10km mark and naturally fell into a nice 194 bpm run (that's just to make IG sweat) I slowed down being nervous about the "BIG HILL" ahead and having never run past the 16 km point before. I took a gel in around 12km and ran up the "BIG HILL" I have to admit I ate the paste at this point. Everyone around me was slowing right down and half were walking it I thought I must be doing something wrong if I'm passing so many people going up so I slowed down too. It wasn't a bad hill at all! If you can do Cresent Heights then this is a breeze. Don't eat the paste!!! From there it was a LONG downhill back downtown. It was nice to stretch my legs and breath in the sea air. When we hit downtown there was lines of people cheering and it felt great. Now it was pretty flat, there was this guy who I had passed several times on the downhill who really, really didn't like being passed I caught up to him again with a km to go and thought to myself. 'Ok now I'm gonna kick you ass' I pulled out a trick from my friend Jamie and started to jog beside him and chat about the run slowly pushing the pace faster until he was barely saying anything between breaths then I said, I'll see you at the finish line and took off like roadrunner! I really want a t-shirt that says "you've been chicked" on the back

My aunt was cheering us on just before the finish and I threw my baby cousin a kiss and pushed through. Crossing at clock time 1:53 knowing I had really left too much out there and was already thinking about when I can do it again. Then I stopped and thought wow I just did a half marathon! When did that happen? When was I able to do that! I took a deep breath took in the moment. 22km! Seriously.

But I'm already home!

2008-05-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Wow what a crazy peak into my future life. This morning I was planning on sleeping in, I even set my alarm for 8am. Sadly it appears my body knew me better and woke up bright and shiny early at 6am! I tried to force it back but no go. I had asked about a community pool at the front desk before I went to bed and my body was like, 'pool? there's a pool? You should get up and get into the pool' so I listened and WOW what a nice pool. Crystal Pool in Vic is THE Tri pool. I was swimming next to TWO tri groups and at 7:30 the pros that live in town got in. It was mad crazy. Sadly no Peter Reid but those guys were rock star fast!

I went for breakfast with a friend's friend who will hopefully become my friend. She took me on a tour of the city and pointed out good neighbourhoods and such. I went to pick up my rental car for 24 hours and take myself out on the crazy roads of Vic. Turns out its not that bad. I found all the bike shops I could to introduce myself and find out about group rides and tri groups. I went to Frontrunners the best running store on the island and introduced myself to a multiple time IM'er. Killer resource! I'm feeling like moving here isn't as scary as it seemed and I'll be all set once the (flippin') condo sells.

It's weird to think about going back to Calgary, this feels like home already ands it's only been a few days. A girl in one of the bike shops today said 'you're from Calgary? Victoria is like taking out all the crappy out of Calgary, you're going to love it' Here's hopin'!

1:51:35

2008-05-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

My first half marathon. So much to write about but I'm in Victoria at the internet cafe so that's all you get for now. Knowing I was 1:35 off a sub 1:50 is maddening!! especially when I know that I wasn't running my hardest and was being caushious because it was the first time I have ever run that far.

Greetings from my soon to be new life. It's +18 and sunny here today! I may never come back, please send my bike!

Business Friday... again...

2008-05-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

First yesterday's run went well. I was wearing my Cancervive tech shirt and was stopped by my teammates husband! It was nice to run and chat with him for a bit. I went for being a strictly solo runner to chatting away at a nice zone two.

My calf is still stupidly tight. A few weeks ago my massuse told me it was too tight and I needed to start stretching it. So I got into the habit of taking the stairs up to my condo and stretching everytime. I think I angered it? No matter what I do it just won't release. Syl at TCR said she's got time for a treatment today so I'm going to zip over there and have her work on it.

First I have to mention that the new session of swim started this week and wholly hanna there is nothing but man candy. Yeah I said it. We look too. But back to the swim.
300m warm up
400m 25 breast pull (like just arms, like I'm go glad I chopped off all my hair because I couldn't hold up a hair dryer after that)
25 fist
400m 25m doggie paddle (which is never as much fun as it sounds! Man those dogs work hard)
25m DPS
10 x 100m DPS take off one stroke per 25
10 x 50m fast DPS
200m scull sitting on the board.

Syl told me that when I was come in on my stroke (reaching out) I was dropping my elbow. She said to reach and pull through like two people are facing each other and trying to pull in the blueberries. If you drop your elbow then you get less blueberries. (Ok how many of you put out your arm try to figure out what I'm talking about?) It was a great visual and gave me a tonne more power on my stroke. It's crazy how simple things like that make all the difference. Also, then I was hungry for the rest of the workout.

Boundless Energy Bars- For Julie

2008-04-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups favourite cereal flakes (I used Vector)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3 cups chopped dried apricots
2 cups raisins (I used craisins)
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup protein powder (I used hemp protein but it called for whey)

2 tbs olive oil
1 jar brown rice syrup (I bought it at Community the jar was .688kg)
1 cup smooth organic peanut butter
2 tsp cinnamon

Toast oats, cereal, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds until brown.
Pour into a large mixing bowl.
Add all remaining dry ingredients, mix completely.
In a saucepan, over meadium heat, melt oil.
Add rice syrup, stir until bubbly.
Stir in peanut butter and cinnamon and mix until completely combined.
Pour liquid over dry ingredients.
Transfer into a 9x13 pan
Pat mixture firmly into pan.
Refridgerate for at least 4 hours.
Cut into bars and wrap in plastic
Store in freezer.

Enjoy!

With Vector the breakdown is
258 Calories
35g Carbohydrate
10g Fat
10g Protein

Here's my Sharkie!

2008-04-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning in a panic because I thought I slept through my alarm and was UBER late for swim. I was frantically brushing my teeth when I realized it was 5:45 and I was on time. I was walking in thinking about Shannon's tip about stating the goal of the workout before. I thought today I'm going to focus on my technique and push it harder. I'm feeling rested and ready. Then thanks to Greg's new music blog I got Kanye West Stronger stuck in my head and I don't even like hip-hop! I'm convienced that Greg has implanted some sort of secret message in the music and is determined to turn me into a triathlete! (Sidebar: I told him on Sunday someone asked me how I became a tri-geek and I said I was a roadie with a tri problem) I'm wise to your tricks Bradley!

Anyway. out set this morning looked something like this

400m warm up
10 set of 25m build and 25 backstroke

Main Set
6 set of 50 drill, 50 free
200m tempo

The main set THREE times before a minute break so 800m straight then a break!!!

It was half way through the first set that my Sharkie came to visit. (Keith if your still looking for yours I think you'll find it at the YWCA) It was the start of the next swim lessons so there were some newbies in the pool. A new guy joined our lane and was pretty cocky off the start, wrong day to come up against my Sharkie! He pushed off first and Sharkie saw those toes and when after them.

Pre Half- Marathon Intervals

2008-04-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

So I bought myself some pretty new shoes yesterday. If I knew that the tri world was filled with so many different and pretty shoes I would have joined years ago! A world that supports my addiction to shoes! I love it! Anyways after trying on many, many, many pairs of shoes I tried on the Nike Vomero 3 Pretty

I tested them out today on my goal pace interveral run. My friend Jamie from the Cali trip joined me and took me down from my office toward Inglewood and the Weir, all the way to 17th Ave SW and looped back. He was dissapointed not to have been able to push me into V02 max but it was a nice run. The shoes held up beautifully and felt light and springy. Hopefully it'll make me faster for Sunday's race. My achilles started to twing on the last km, which is new. I haven't felt that before.

Oh what a weekend

2008-04-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

Where to begin...

SO Saturday Lola and I packed up and headed out to Cochrane. It require a lot of gear/food/stuff to do a 3 hour ride and brick away from home!

I'll admit I was a little worried when I got down to Susi's Dungeon. Was I going to have to show my hamster too? I don't have the uber strength that Susi has for hours of alone biking time (also the sound of the trainer drives me crazy and I need something to drowned it out like LOUD ROCK MUSIC) But she put the radio on. The first hour flew by and second was a little painful and we both commented that we could feel out legs around the 2:45 mark and then hour 3 hit.... It was like time stood still. I kept trying not to click over from my HR to the clock but somehow I entered a universe where time was s-l-o-w-e-d (said like you slow down a record) It wasn't the company it was the pain and suffering of it all. We cheered when the clock hit 2:40 and it was time to cooldown! Time for a quick change and out for the brick. Susi took me on a loop of her neighbourhood, very cute little suburb. My calf's kept reminding me that they were there every uphill! Time to eat/stretch/shower (though not at the same time, that could be messy) and we headed into Cochrane for some treats and window-shopping. Also I purchased a very extravagant towel at the travel shop but I think it's going to radically change the size of my backpack on swim mornings. Look how teeny it folds down to! I picked up my groceries and I think I was out cold by 10:30 on Saturday night. As I crawled into bed I thought to myself sigh Party like a Triathlete

Sunday morning since I wasn't running. I had signed up to volunteer at the Policeman's half. I had to be there for 6:30 ouch! My body didn't want to move from the bed and violently protested the early hour. But then I found out I got a walkie-talkie and a police vest, SWEET! I headed out to my marshaling post and cranked up the music to a) annoyed the neighbours and b) entertain the runners.

Our little Susi at the start before she smoked her PB!!!

Watching everyone come in got my all PSYCHED for my half next weekend in Vancouver. I got home to change and headed out again to Cochrane to join some of Susi's Tri buddies on Horse Creek Loop. A pleasant 60km trip (57.89 but I round up!) I was pretty happy how I was feeling considering the Hours of Pain on Saturday. It was nice for me to be at the front of the pack instead of yelling at the boys to hold up! It was a perfect training weekend.

I also had time to make a sweet dinner. Salmon baked in Lemon Butter, grilled peppers on egg noodles. I was trying to recreate a meal from Solvang. I also made a batch of some awesome power bars. I'll post the recipe soon! I hope all of you had some time to enjoy the sun!

Sidebar: Keith you were so right about Susi's Abs of Steel! I was seriously indimidated!

Who's your Sharkie??!!?? (stolen from Shannon)

2008-04-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

Run

I really, really, REALLY did not want to go running yesterday. I was at work until after 6pm and then I stopped to chat with my friend whos moving away on my way home buy the time i actually got home it was 7pm and I was trying to convience myself that my throat was sore so I would have a reason to skip the run.

Step One 7:30 I used my trick and just got dressed to run
Step Two is to talk myself into going outside and just warming up.
Step Three The 10 minute rule. If you can get through the first 10 minutes of running you can get through the entire workout. I got some serious cramps in my ribs. Just under my ribcage ouch, I told myself that if it still hurt my the time I got to the bridge (about a 10min distance) I could turn around there and head home.

Of course Step Three happened I started really enjoying my run.

It was my first attempt at tempo runs. Brief 3min and then 3min easy. It was more fun then I thought it was going to be.

Swim! Who's my Sharkie? (I'm like a dog with a bone)
Ugh my arms seemed to forget how to swim. They got so use to sitting on handlebars that WOW did I feel that one!

Business Friday set was 3100m
(I showed up bizarrly early son 400m warm up for me)
4x25 decending
6x100 on 2min. No break inbetween (so effectavly it was 600m straight)
400m whatever stroke
2x100 on 1:50
100m sprint
100m sprint
2x100 on 1:50
400 whatever stroke
6x100 on 2:00

Thankfully I chopped off all my hair. I don't think I could have held the hair dryer this morning. Felt great to be back in the pool.

This weekend!!!!
Lola, the trainer and I are going on a road trip! Out to Susi's place to endure our 3 Hours of Pain (We love you Greg!!!) together.

Alcatraz ride

2008-04-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

Julie this info is for you since I know you've ridden it on the computrainer!

Alcatraz 32.(something)km
Average watts 190
65min 22 seconds

It hurt an awful lot.

I'm sleepy this week, I think I'm going through Vitamin D withdrawal!

And now the candid shots

2008-04-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I was road cycling not mountain biking?

The Mentos Commercial shot!

Sometimes I get geared up and I think to myself "damn I make this look good" this is not one of those times!

I really like new jersey's

April 18th Last Ride

2008-04-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

45km
No HR monitor

I discovered the best hangover remedy, a 30km ride in So Cal. It was a perfect way to end the trip. It was seriously painful to get off the bike. I really, really, really, didn’t want to. Especially when Susi and Greg texted me to tell me about the frozen tundra that was waiting for me. All in all a truly fantastic trip, I feel so much stronger then I did when I left and had an amazing time.

April 17th Santa Rosa up Rucker Road to Los Alamos back through Alisos Canyon and back the same loop from the infamous Drum Canyon day

2008-04-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

121.23 km
Bike time 4:27
Total Time 5:35
Average Cadence 79
Average Speed 27.23
Max Speed 60.98
Average HR 155

I was out voted for a century. Three riders took off early to avoid getting beat up with Jamie, Kimble, Steve and Ed, the last time I was left with these boys things didn’t end well for me. But I jumped onto their wheels and was pulled along the entire 40km up Santa Rosa. The hill on Rucker Road barely felt like a climb after The Fig. I stayed with the boys the entire time and was feeling like I was on fire that day! I harassed Jamie to come swimming with me, Jamie Beninger a multiple time top 50 age grouper. When I say top 50 I mean top 50 overall, pros included. The man is crazy fast. He told me my stroke look “pretty good” I was pretty happy. A fantastic dinner tonight at Los Olvios where they filmed a scene from Sideways. Seriously that dinner was spectacular. Hopefully we’ll have time for a quick ride tomorrow before we have to get on the plane.

April 16th Rest Day!!!

2008-04-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

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A beautiful 7 mile run up Refugio Road. Past the end of the road and up the hill into Regan’s Ranch. It was amazing, the boys took off and I threw on the ipod and ramped it up to a upper zone two run and felt great the whole time. The road had several streams to cross and some beautiful trees, I could get use to this.

We showered and changed into non cycling clothes for the first morning in days (if felt weird) and we headed into San Luis Obispo for some bike shopping and record shopping. It was a very cute town and apparently a tri hot bed.

We made it back to town with a little over an hour of sunlight left and hopped onto our bikes. Zipped back down Nojoqui Falls and back a quick 30km in just under an hour.

April 15th The Fig (Figueroa Mountain Loop) The ride Lance Armstrong calls challenging

2008-04-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

79.83 km
Bike time 4:23
Total Time 6:52
Average Cadence 61
Average Speed 18.16
Max Speed 59.45
Average HR 146

Wow! What a truly spectacular ride. When I woke up my legs felt rested, skipping the hill climb for the wine tasting was clearly the best recovery plan ever!

I opted out of the morning run for some yoga. We geared up with only a high of 20 and an elevation gain of 4,500 ft knee warmers were the apparel of the day. Note to self don’t forget base layer or easy to pack light jacket. Into the rollers of the ride we rode past Neverland Ranch! I was still feeling great when we stopped at the base of the hill to strip down (I learned how to make the boys pull over for a break, just tell them you need to strip) I was still feeling great and know that if I took the hill at my own pace and enjoy the day I was going to have a great ride.

So the base starts with an 18% grade right off and eventually levels off before hitting a 20% grade. It was awesome and totally painful all in one. After one of our groups says to me on the 18% grade “oh your in the easiest gear already, I’m surprised I’m spinning so much faster then you” I decided to ramp it up and kick her little Kona behind. I found myself really enjoying the beautiful yet grulling hill. I was having a lot of fun, the fast boys were ahead and I knew I didn’t have a hope of catching them but I was looking forward to their surprise when I rounded the hill. The wildflowers were amazing and the view from the top was pretty spectatular. We stopped at a false summit to wait for everyone. For the record you’ll know you’re at the top when it says 500m to the top, 250m to the top, 100m to the top, Congrats you are at the top spray painted on the road. We bumped into IMC winner Chucky V around the top. Turned out Jamie and him battled it out one year at IMC, it’s a small planet. They were doing hill repeats and the sick part of me thought, hey that sounds like fun.

The backside of the mountain was far less splendent. Massive blow you off the bike wind, horrible twisty roads with rocks everywhere, I did not enjoy. We hit a nice downhill along Happy Canyon followed by an actual gravel road where I forgot Andrew’s golden rule “don’t panic” and hit the front break and bailed. Finally we finished on some pretty roads and the day was over.

Still feeling pretty fresh I decided to do a brick to the YMCA and a quick swim. Man alive my legs felt like lead. I hit the pool for some easy lengths 1500m in 30 min with the pool buoy. All in all a pretty spectacular day.

April 14th Los Alisos Canyon to Foxen up through Sisquoc down Santa Maria Mesa Road, traversed Sisquoc River and back to Los Alamos

2008-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

79.50km
Bike time 2:57
Total Time 4:26
Average Cadence 77
Average Speed 26.89
Max Speed 65.08
Average HR 132

We ripped up some serious pavement today. It was a fantastic peloton ride and a very nice recovery ride after yesterday. The weather didn’t get above 25 it was very sweet. We hit a road end sign and made the decision to traverse the creek. It was not at all road riding but it was super fun to carry my bike over the stream. I had the choice to double back with two of the group of traverse the creek! Having the choice between fun and less fun I always choose more fun! I could have joined the fast boys on another hill climb but thought better of it after yesterday’s train wreak. We crossed the river and Andrew and I decided to wait for the group. It just happened that we choose to wait at a vineyards tasting room. It was the prefect recovery 80km

April 13th Drum Canyon or the day Kelsey exploded

2008-04-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

93.03km
Bike time 3:49
Total Time 4:17
Average Cadence 73
Average Speed 24.43
Max Speed 70.21
Average HR 158

Well now I know what heat exhaustion feels like. The day started with a leisurely 50 min run through the vineyards with Jamie and Kimble. When I say with I mean we started together and then they waited for me at the end. They enjoyed asking me questions and torturing me as we ran through the vineyards. After breakfast and showers I was suddenly exhausted. We decided on a 60-70 km rides through the vineyards along Chalk Hill through Ballard Canyon up Highway 246 to Los Alamos up through Drum Canyon Road. We took a wrong turn and added 12km off the start (I would have been upset but it was such a beautiful ride) At 11:30am it was 36 degrees. We lost Andrew at Los Olivos, he turned back do to heat and suddenly I was left alone with the fast boys! We would stick together until we hit a hill and I lost them. We finally hit Alisos Canyon and a very sweet piece of pavement and I worked off my frustration of getting dropped. I was averaging 40km/hour with my cadence never dropping below 90. We pulled into Los Alamos for more H20 (badly needed) and a break from the sun. We only had one hill left and the guys next to me shouts the temp has hit 44 degrees! Over 1000 ft elevation in 4 miles on some of the worst road I’ve ever seen and my lunch hit the retasting zone. It was brutal, my stomach was feeling seriously unhappy and the heat is only getting worse. I was sure I was going to see my lunch again but finally the hill was over! A painfully slow downhill on rough roads and my head felt like it was going to explode. I was pouring my water bottle on top of my head and it only felt slightly better. I was starting to feel a bit better when we got moving again until we crossed the highway for our last 25km. The boys took off on the hill again and I realized I was in serious trouble. I had to pull over and as I got off my bike I was feeling woozy and fell off the bike trying to get off. In case your wondering a Cliff Bar looks pretty much the same coming up as they do going down. It was unpleasant. I pounded back my Nuun and try to shake my head back into clarity. I put my game face on an threw it into drive and headed back to the hotel.

As soon as I hit the hotel I had just enough energy to rip off my jersey and collapse into the ice cold shower. Some V8 and a cold compress and I was feeling much better. Brutal. Lessons learned
1. Drink water
2. Take food breaks even if it means the boys have to wait longer
3. Speak up when your not feeling well, boys don’t listen well.

April 12th Santa Rose Road to Jalama Beach

2008-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

136.14km
Bike time 5:19
Total Time 7:45
Average Cadence 78
Average Speed 25.56
Max Speed 71.21
Average HR 157 (though this includes a looooooong lunch break)

50 minute zone two run in the morning. Running through vineyards is uber cool!

What an absoutly killer ride. Seriously beautiful country. I was happy as I was able to stay close to the fast group for most of the ride. Kimble was within viewing distance the entire climb. It was a MONSTER hill going to the beach, every roller climb I would promise myself that the beach was around the corner. The air was thick with heat and then suddenly this wall of ocean air hit us and we knew we were finally close! It was like walking into fridge, suddenly there was the Pacific. Breathtaking

After very long lunch and a killer walk up the beach we got back on the bikes. As we headed out of the beach one of our group was rounding a corner on a descent and he hit the pavement pretty hard. A very experienced cyclist was now missing half his buttock and knee and remembered just how scary this sport can be. I was a lot more careful on the down hills after that. Up the back side MONSTER hill and back through Santa Rosa road. (the best piece of road I’ve ever been on) With an organic lavender field on one side and a vineyard on the other I realized just lucky I was. It was 35 degrees so I have some pretty impressive (read goofy) tan lines. A truly spectacular day of riding.

April 11th 56 km

2008-04-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

3 hours of sleep, 7 hours of transit makes for a very sleepy Kelsey. I could barely make it through dinner! The first half of the day was spent in a sleep deprived stupor, I’m amazed that I could hold on to my passport and make it to the gate, stupid 3:30am wake up call! Leaving Calgary in ankle deep snow and arriving in Santa Barbara in 20+ weather was spectacular. When we flew over San Francisco we could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. I was thinking how cool the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon would be! After putting our bikes back together we zipped down into Solvang and it felt amazing to be back on the bike, with the wind in the hair and bugs in my teeth! We all joined back up and took a quick ride down to Nojoqui Falls. It was only 12km to the end of the road, I decided to join the boys in the rest of the loop. After a massive hill I was dropped and couldn’t see the group ahead of me or Andrew behind me. Having never ridden with these guy I didn’t know that in order to stay with the pack I had to hold on early! I finally hooked back up with Andrew and we decided with the sun setting and very little sleep to head into Lompoc and call it a day at 50km.

California Dreamin'

2008-04-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

First spin class was torture last night! Knowing that in a few days I'll actually be on the road was mean. It was just a slugfest. 22km at 178 watts. I was doggin' it mostly just bored looking outside dreaming of days I can be outside!

Tomorrow I'll be in sunny california. Greg and Susi, I promise to bottle up some of that sunshine and heat and bring it back with me. I'm not sure how much if any posting I'll be doing while I'm gone. I like to take breaks away from the internet when I'm on vacation to prove to myself I can live without!

To all of you in Calgary I want to hear some great riding stories for this weekend. 22 on Sunday!

New toys!

2008-04-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

Several shipments arrived yesterday. My book to review for VeloPress.
Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes

I had also used up a Indigo GC and picked up Triathlons for Women and Athlete's Guide to Yoga. (also, The Other Boleyn Girl but that's for the poolside) I can't decide which one to bring on my trip!

And, I think I might have FINALLY found the right pair of cycling shoes. FOr those of you that have been reading this for a long time might remember these

Which were very pretty but resulted in this (WARNING THE PICTURE BELOW MAY RESULT IN YOUR BREAKFAST HITTING THE RE-TASTING ZONE)

Susi, I totally warned you.

So I picked up a new pair at IMC last year which took me through toe surgery and the 900km+ to Austin. But they are still very uncomfortable and were starting to hurt my toes again on the past few Big Bikes. So after trying on just about every pair of 40 and 41 cycling shoes in the city. I found these

I hope we will be very happy together for a long, long time.

Business Wednesday???

2008-04-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

So first thing first. I am so not motivated to run these days. I am all about being on the bike and in the water. Lately I have even been waking up before my 5:30 swim alarm. I went out for my run last night an nothing seemed to be working or feeling good at all. I had bought a pair of shoes when I was last in Seattle and thought I'd give them a try they just pain hurt and felt awkward the entire time. I forgot to go to the bathroom before I left the house and spent most of the run having to pee. It was kinda a disaster. I'm feeling like I've spent all this time and energy improving my swim and biking and have been neglected the running. And we all know with IM it all comes down to the run. I need some running coaching stat!

Anyways back to thins mornings swim!

All that is holy that was a brutal swim class. I didn't even have anyone to draft off of the entire set.

warm up
300m - 50 breast, 50 back

main set
400m - 100m IM (25 fly, 25, back, 25 breast, 25, free)
400m - 25m breathing every 3 strokes
- 25m every 5 strokes
- 25m every 7 strokes!!!
- 25m back
Now do the whole thing 3 times!

It was an awesome workout. but man those 7 breaths just about killed me. I could maybe do one in 25m. It's so psychological though. At first I was having a problem with the 5, but when I would trick myself into thinking it was 7 and suddenly 5 didn't seem that hard!

Only two more sleeps until California!

wholly lack of updating Batman

2008-04-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been so behind but since I don't think you guys really want to hear about my adventures in light repair or carpet installation I've been busy with other things.

I got my run in on Saturday (which actually feels like forever ago now) and Sunday I was suppose to do a big bike/brick but I was sans bike. Lola was in getting tuned up for the weekend and I didn't think miming the bike would be all the helpful (though probably entertaining for my neighbours) instead I moved all of my furniture out of the bedrooms so the new carpet could be installed Monday. Not really a solid endurance workout but I sure used my core and quads a lot!

Yesterday, I moved everything back into place and spent the better half of the day prettying things up and making various trips back and forth from the Salvation Army (the downside of owning a Smart Car in combination with being a pack rat) Now I just have to keep it pretty and try not to touch anything!

Showing in theatres one time only Wednesday April 9th

2008-04-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

I think I should be able to just make it. Spin class ends at 7:15, I might be a little bit smelly but who's with me?

Takin' care of business

2008-04-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a while I had to peal myself off the pillow to get to swim. Normally I wake up 10 min before the alarm and am excited and ready to go. This morning was a fight to get out of the bed.

Syl worked us over big time today

200m on our own warm up

400m reverse IM drill switching strokes on the 25's (reverse didn't compute in my brain this morning)
10 sets of
25m free
25m kick
25m heads up
10 pulls ups on the edge of the pool deck
25m backstroke

Followed by 300m scull sitting on the flutter boards.

I was so tired that I couldn't hold up my arm to properly dry my hair and ended up just throwing it in a ponytail.

I realize now that's only 1800m but I am so exhausted I can bairly keep my head up straight. There was so much splashing in the pool I felt like I was being torutred in Guatanamo with the waterboarding. About half way through one of the heads up I thought to myself was this the wise decision? You could still be in bed right now!

And people think we're crazy

2008-04-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Mental Floss published a great article on races that make marathons look wimpy.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/13903

A funny thing happened at spin class

2008-04-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

So I too was feeling sluggish tonight. My swim this morning left me sleepy and I ate my lunch too late and continued to eat cookies well into the afternoon. (I like to bake when I'm having a bad day, last night meant 3 dozen oatmeal, craisin, and walmut cookies)

Tonight was our last test night at TCR. Nothing but Team Trials, all night long! So here are some stats. 10km TT

October - average watts 166
February - average watter 187
April (with a massive stomach cramp, can't breath, hurts in every position kinda way) Average watts 197!!!

Cory gave me a Nuun and told me to put half of it under my tong and the other half in the drink. It got rid of my cramp pretty quickly and I was able to make it thought the second 13km TT.

Cory thinks I should go back and to do it again later on in the week, minus the cramp. He thinks I can eaisly break 200. When I got back from Austin I thought I was pretty fit. 8 days of cycling 120km per day. Look what IronGreg can do!

Today was a pretty big success. Now if I could only walk downstairs without grimising

Banjo Cord

2008-04-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

So my Chiropractor worked his magic on my upper half. My back and shoulder and neck were all wound up tight from all the stress. He took some extra time which was good except it made me rush out of there to meet a new realtor and I hit a pothole driving on to Glenmore. This has been the worst streak of bad luck/news ever! I sat in my car waiting for the tow truck to come trying desperately not to cry and thinking THAT IS IT. I NEED SOMETHING GOOD TO HAPPEN!

I started to think about my warrior from Austin, Tricia and how she's having to wait to hear from Health Canada if they can proceed with a third stem cell transplant. And about Doug, one of my fellow riders on the trip who's in the hospital with liver failure. I realize just how lucky I am to be on the side of the road crying about a stupid tire. Cancervive makes it difficult to feel bad for yourself and an excellent job at motivating you do to more.

Alright, enough about that. You came here for a swim update!

So this morning I woke up early excited about getting into the pool and seeing if Saturday with the 1:50's were just a fluke or a result of caffeine overload! Unfortunately the lifeguard slept in and so we waited and waited and waited for him to arrive so they could open the pool. Class is suppose to start at 6:45, we didn't get into the pool until well after 7:00. So it was a quick and painful 45 minute class.

800m
-descending on the 75m other stroke for 35
600m
-25m heads up
-25m doggie paddle
-25m sighting on the 3rd stroke
-25m backstroke
400m
-dps breathing on opposite 25m
100m
-25m front kick
-25m left side
-25m right side
-25m back kick

And no rest for the wicked!

I had the engineer all up in my stroke. Trying swim on top of me when I was already on the guy ahead of me heels at the very end of the lane. I thought to myself, what would Keith do in a moment like this? I know I'm a stronger swimmer then him and there is no way I'm getting stuck behind this guy. So I gave a good kick and pushed my way in front again and gave him the stink eye as I pushed off. He backed off and I didn't have him touching my feet for the rest of the swim!

Unfortunately my legs are still protesting, they are very, very, very upset at my BIG bike and BIG run back to back. I went to jog across the streets and my hip flexors shouted "OH NO YOU DON'T" My IT band is like a bass drum string. I think I am about to start a deep and meaningful relationship with my roller.

Big Bike + Big Run

2008-04-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

So last night I had to get home and push out two hours on the bike and a 20min brick. Turns out doing your BIG bike workout on a week night kinda stinks.

I also decided that I could be at least half as tough as Susi and dig in without too much distraction. While I was prepared to forgo the tv I couldn't part with my ipod. I did notice that I was a lot more 'in the moment' and felt like I was working harder. The two hours flew by and it was time for me to get out to the paths for a 20min run. It was Flippin' cold! I do not enjoy. I've been having nothing but problems with bike shoes. I'm on my second pair and I know that these ones won't work either. Jenna I feel you pain with the runners! One's too big, one is too small they both hurt my big toes. ugh By the time I finished stretching it was 10pm and I had enough time to eat and hop in the shower and crawl into bed.

This morning I was a sleepy girl. I was still feeling the effects of the bike when I headed out on my run this morning. My knee was twinging on the bike last night so I was a little curious about how it would work. The good news is that I made it farther then any other time. The bad news is I hit one serious wall of pain. At the 11km mark it was like running into a brick wall. All I could do to push through the last 35 minutes. So in the future I will avoid the Big bike and Big run combo!

This post is rambling so I'm signing off. Enjoy the sunshine!

Weekend Wrap Up

2008-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

So without a IG schedule I was left to my own devices for the weekend. Somehow I knew that IG's plan would include the following:

- Pain
- Short bursts of pain
- followed by long extended periods of pain.

Saturday I decided to make up for my missed swim, I went for a ez 60min run in the morning. Followed by buying a dishwasher and new carpets, repairing my leaky sink and fixing my continues to run toilet. Who needs a Father when you have a wrench and a visa card!

After all that I crashed on the couch for a good hour before I could talk myself into getting up and into the pool. I had hoped at the start of the day to do some weights and core in before swimming but my errands and to-do list took me longer then I thought.

Now the important thing to note at the start of the story is that previously to this I was swimming 100m in 2 minutes. Never changing from the 2min mark. For months I would check the clock and would be dead on 2 minutes. I did 400m warm up and into the set of 10x100m with 15 seconds rest

Off the start I was at 1:50. Being a little shocked I thought it was a fluke or I had miss read the time when I pushed off. But the second attempt was also 1:50! Now it was challenge time. Was I in some sort of parallel universe where I was capable of swimming a 1:50 consistently??? Nope, the whole set average 1:50. My longest being 1:55 and my fastest being 1:45! (nope that's not a typo) If I am in a parallel universe I hope to never wake up!

I had planned to do some sort of bike on Sunday but without and actual schedule and with a whole condo that needed to be shaken up and half the contents recycled, thrown out or reclaimed there were a few other thing on the agenda. I made about 20 trips up the three flights from the garbage room and back. But it's nearly done and I'm feeling much calmer.

Sadly the IG plan did arrive in my inbox and I cannot pretend that it simply doesn't exist. So tonight in-between more trips to the garbage room I have the following to contend with.

B 120-135 --> R 20
w/u and drills,
10x 6.5min/ 3.5min
then run

I have a slightly different take on the snow since it may be my last dump of the white stuff for a while.

Heading West

2008-03-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

With all the questions I figured I might as well just post it. I'm moving to Victoria, I've been accepted into the Communications program at Royal Roads University. It started out that I just wanted to leave Calgary sometime last fall. I was lonely and tried of living on a low salary high prestige job in a city that has more cash then it knows what to do with. It always bothered me that I didn't have a degree but until this year I never had the confidence in myself to go back and do it.

Being one of the very few native Calgarian's feel like everywhere I go I know someone. Sometimes this comes in handy when you bump into a friend that you haven't seen in ages and sometimes when it's an ex-boyfriend this city seems just too darn small. I will very badly miss all of my friends here, especially the new ones that I've been made recently but I just can't shake the feeling that it's my time to do something new.

Plus, who doesn't want an excuse to visit me on the island? Victoria 1/2 marathon anyone?