Continuing the toe saga. The antibiotics helped, but my toe was still red, inflamed, and sore at the end of the course of antibiotics, just less so. So it had improved, but wasn't better. I wasn't sure how my toe would deal with a run of that length, but there was no way I was backing out of this race, infected toe or not. Unless the weather was horrible, that is, as the weather report 3 days beforehand was predicting. Soaking wet, sore toe, all by myself (because no one was going to come cheer for me that early in the pouring rain), no way. Then the weather forecast changed and the rain was supposed to hold off until the afternoon, so I was good to go.
I've never done a race with that many people before. 3 races actually. The Victoria Marathon has an 8 km, half, and full marathon. They start the 8 km first, then the half, then the full, which seems strange to me. But I figure it's about parking. You'd think they'd have some kind of shuttle to get people into the downtown, or that the public transit would be running some special buses to allow people to park elsewhere, but no, you have to be at the race site too early for transit. Having the races start backwards means they can leave some roads open until the last minute, allowing the shorter race participants to get to the site before they shut down the roads. Anyway, I figured I better get there early to get parking. Almost 10,000 runners in all 3 races meant that there would be a lot of demand. In the end, I had no problem. I had been waffling about leaving my extra gear in the car and just taking what I was going to need to run with me, but in the end, decided to use the bag check. I had anticipated long lines and waits, but they organized it very well and I never waited for more than 1 person. I had to use the service more than once, because I forgot my sunglasses in my bag - checking your gear while it's still dark out can do that - and had to go back just before the start of the race to get my bag and then recheck it. (I have migraines, and the sun in my eyes can trigger them, so sunglasses, even on cloudy days, are pretty important for me.)
Went over to the start area, got dive bombed by a duck. Too strange to explain. Chatted with a woman from up island next to me in the corral wearing a Shawnigan Lake Triathlon shirt. (It's funny how you can spot the triathletes at runs (even without the shirts). We wear our numbers on race belts, not pinned onto our shirts. That was how I notice her, then I saw her shirt.) Then the race got started. We were pretty much walking, as it took a while to cross the actual start line. I held back, not wanting to get caught up in the rush and go out too hard.
Turns out I did a really good job of not going out too hard. I ran the first km in 5:48, waaay slower than my goal pace., which was...hard to say. I had originally wanted a sub 2 hour half. But with my toe, and lack of training for 3 weeks prior, I was now just aiming to finish, hopefully within 2:15. But I felt pretty good, and my toe didn't seem to be bothered, so about 3 km in after I did ks 2 and 3 in 5:35 and 5: 31 without too much effort I decided to try for a sub 2. That meant a 5:30 km average pace and so some catching up to do. I don't have a watch that shows pace, I was just timing myself from marker to marker, and I'm decent at keeping a cadence going, even uphill. So I figured it was worth a shot. I had my own hydration (Nuun) and Gus, so didn't need to stop at stations. The race was on. I had 3 Gus with me, one for 40 minutes, another for 30 minutes later (the third was an emergency back-up). This timing should keep me in energy, and avoid me ever feeling like I was running on empty. I had cramped up in my left thigh pretty early on, combination of weeks of not running with the cold I think. It never really relaxed, but I managed to keep it from seizing up, which was good enough.
I was good until about 15 km. I was really starting to feel the pace. But I turned it into a mental race, rather than a physical one. I began to really run in my head, instead of with my legs. That worked pretty well until 18 km, when I developed a stitch in my right side. I know I need to do more core work, but with my toe, I can't do any planks, which are really the best, so what I've been doing has been much less effective. I ran hunched over for a bit, which helped - didn't go away, but made it less acute for a few minutes at a time at least. Between the stitch and my legs being in revolt, the last 3 ks were a very mental battle. I was starting to slow down, but I knew that I only had 3 ks left to go. I just kept thinking "3 ks is nothing, you can bang out 5 k even feeling really rotten, you have this, just keep moving, but a little bit faster". I usually have a bit of a surge at the end of a race, but I pretty much had nothing left at the end of this one. My 'surge' meant keeping up the pace I'd been running at for the rest of the race. I rounded the last corner and heard the announcer saying that people were coming in a little faster now, buoyed by knowing they were going to get in under 2 hours and that even better, some might make it in under two on the clock time, not just chip time. I looked up at the clock and it was still under 1:57, and I was about 30 seconds away. I was really surprised given how long it seemed to take to get from where I was standing to the actual start line, but whatever. So I made my legs move as fast as they could (which at this point wasn't very fast at all).
In the end, my clock time was 1:57:29. My chip time was 1:55:55. I finished in the top 1/5 of my age group. My husband rode down to the finish line, but he missed seeing me cross and I missed seeing him when I crossed, but I found him shortly afterward. It was nice to have him there. He hung around while I collected my bag and then walked back to the car with me. Then he took off to get in the rest of his ride, and I drove back to where we staying, showered, and started peeling potatoes and carrots.
I don't know that I would have done any better if my toe hadn't bothered me. Maybe a few seconds, but not much. In the end, I was left with pretty fresh legs, which was good. I hated the last few ks, and now am thinking about doing another half this fall if I can find one that fits into our family's schedule.
It was a really well organized race. And I LOVED watching the pros run by. We saw the front end of the half and the lead runner in the full. I think tris are more fun (certainly more gear, I kept feeling like I was forgetting stuff because I'm used to having to think about way more stuff), but you don't get to see people run like that in triathlons. The runners out front make running a thing of beauty. They move with grace, and speed, and an apparent lack of effort (which is probably a total illusion). The runners at the front got applause the whole way, as the rest of us slowed to appreciate what they were doing. And people were keeping track of when the first woman in the half ran by us; she got lots of cheers, from men as well as women, which was great to see and hear. Not sure if I'll run the same race again next year (depends on family, since I was really over in Victoria for Thanksgiving), but I'll definitely do another half.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Toes toes and more toes
So I have stayed away from running all week, again. My big toe was getting better and I was hopeful that I would get in a run in the last half of the week. Then I got some sort of weird infection in it. It's red and swollen and very very sore and tender. I noticed it Wednesday evening, and called the doctor the next morning to make an appointment. I saw the doc on Friday.
It was quite funny. When I took off my sock to show him the toe he was very distracted by my other two 'problem' toes. One has a black mark (old blood blister) on the outside, the other a red toenail that is going to fall off sooner rather than later. Neither hurt me at all at this point, and they're pretty typical runners' toes. He was like, "Woah, what's going on with those toes?" and seemed a little disturbed when I responded that they were fine, just part of half marathon training. He clearly doesn't run.
Got a scrip for some antibiotics and within 1 day it's feeling much better. I should be able to get in a couple of short runs this week, which I desperately need. I've been enjoying bike commuting (even went into MEC and bought myself a second panier and some rain pants, couldn't bring myself to get waterproof gloves yet, although I know I'll need them), but it's not the same kind of exercise.
It was quite funny. When I took off my sock to show him the toe he was very distracted by my other two 'problem' toes. One has a black mark (old blood blister) on the outside, the other a red toenail that is going to fall off sooner rather than later. Neither hurt me at all at this point, and they're pretty typical runners' toes. He was like, "Woah, what's going on with those toes?" and seemed a little disturbed when I responded that they were fine, just part of half marathon training. He clearly doesn't run.
Got a scrip for some antibiotics and within 1 day it's feeling much better. I should be able to get in a couple of short runs this week, which I desperately need. I've been enjoying bike commuting (even went into MEC and bought myself a second panier and some rain pants, couldn't bring myself to get waterproof gloves yet, although I know I'll need them), but it's not the same kind of exercise.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Injuries, training, and cyclocross fun (with photos)
I have a new appreciation for people with injuries, mostly
because I now have some too. Mine are pretty minor and will heal quickly, but
they’re still really frustrating, interfering with my important half-marathon
training at a time when I can’t afford to be taking it this easy. I can’t
imagine what it’s like to be sidelined for months at a time, but I know that it
happens. All I can say is, I’m sorry you have to go through it. I can barely
handle a week or two.
The backstory: 4 weeks ago I went for a long run (about 15
kms) and ended up with a problem with my 4th toe. I run on the
outside of my left foot, something that is made worse by stability shoes that I
have always been told I need (I pronate a lot with my right foot). Stability
shoes did improve my knees years ago, so I generally wear them. But apparently
the higher mileage means they cause other problems, namely, a bad blood blister
on the outside of my toe. So the following week I switched to a neutral shoe
(the ones I race shorter tris in) for my long run, this time, a little over 17
kms and my longest run ever to that point. That led to a massive blister on my
3rd toe, again, on the left foot. A week later when I upped my
mileage to just over 20 km I wore my stability shoes again and ended up with an
even worse blister on my 3rd toe, and feeling like the toe was
pretty badly bruised. Not sure why. My stability shoes are not too small, nor
are the toe boxes narrow. I have very narrow heals, and so my feet move a lot
in shoes, even using lace tricks (which do help a lot). So my toes often take a
pounding, which is exacerbated on downhills, but it was a pretty flat course,
at least compared to what I’m used to running. It’s less bad if I run
naturally, i.e., on the outside of my foot, but apparently, I wasn’t doing
that, although I wasn’t consciously trying not to. I know, you’re thinking ‘blisters,
that’s not an injury’, and you’re right. But that’s just the beginning. I was
so exhausted after my trip that I took a small tumble down a few stairs on my second
night back home. Mostly I was fine, but I somehow did a number on my big toe of
my left foot during the fall. It was bruised and battered. I was actually
worried I had broken it, but it wasn’t swollen enough for that.
The next morning I couldn’t get my shoes on and had to wear
flip-flops despite the pouring rain. Students around campus were looking at me
like I was crazy (as in, just another kookie professor), which wasn’t fun. But
I didn’t have much of a choice. Walking was painful enough - there was no way I
could run, so my planned speed workouts didn’t happen last week. But I did ride
my bike to/from work a few times, so I got in a bit of exercise. And a fall,
with more injuries. It was stupid, a slow-speed tip over. I only have one
panier and it’s heavy. I am still getting used to the cleats and shoes on my
commuter bike (which I love, it’s a Norco Indie Alfine with electronic
shifting!, but it has mountain bike style cleats, not SPDs like my road bike).
I was trying to get my right foot out and shifted my weight too much to the
left for having the panier on, and boom, over I went. I was just starting out
from a stop sign, and had to stop as a car came hurtling as it crested a hill
on the cross street with the right of way. Luckily, the cars were all going
slowly, so damage was minimal. It could have been a lot worse. Lots of people
stopped to make sure I was OK as I got up. At that point it was mostly my pride
that was hurt. But I did a number on my left hand and couldn’t use it the rest
of the ride home (which was another 20 minutes) and skinned my elbow.
The next
morning my hand was a little better, as in, I could move my thumb, but it was
really really bruised. I also had an emerging deep bruise on my left hip and another
on my shoulder that took a few days to really show themselves. But I thought
that my big toe was better, and so on Friday morning despite the bruises from
the fall, I joined in my son’s school walkathon, about a 5 km round trip in the
rain. Turns out that wasn’t such a bright idea. I thought I might be able to
run again this past weekend, but the walk has delayed that for a bit longer, my
toe was really hurting the next morning. But on the bright side, I probably did
less damage to it on the walk than I would have done had I gone out for a run.
And I didn’t have time for a run this weekend anyway. Saturday I spent running
around to various family activities, including my husband’s first cyclocross
race. He’s been inspired by my tri racing, and was looking for something he
might want to compete in. He didn’t finish due to a pulled muscle part way
through, but it totally hooked. I love that he has found his own activity,
although I really want to try it too. It looks really fun. And my son took part
in the kids race which was so much fun to watch. It was extra special because my Dad, who is very active but lives quite far away, was visiting and so got to see one of his grandkids in action.
We’ll be back out at the next
race in 3 weeks as long as the pulled muscle has healed. And I am really hoping
that my toe hurries up and gets better. I have a half marathon to do in 2
weeks! Sunday I spent trying to rest, as it’s clear that I am fighting my
first cold of the fall. I’m pretty sure the cold is winning unfortunately. I
really don’t need to have that on top of it all. But as I said, these are all
really short term things, and I have a new-found appreciation for people battling
longer term injuries who don’t give up. Kudos to you!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Training
My first ever runfie, along the beautiful Bow River.
I have been trying to maintain my training for my half marathon through the first few weeks of term, my son starting kindergarten, and this trip to be with my mom for her surgery. I have managed to up my mileage and get in a few tempo runs and hill runs. I was up to just over 17 km last weekend, enough that I could finish the race, but not enough that I was mentally convinced I could finish the race if that makes any sense. So I really wanted to do one last long run that was closer to 21 km, but fitting that in was going to be hard. This week I have been sitting in a hospital chair all night long, grabbing sleep while I can, helping my mom out when she needs it and mostly just being there for her. So I'm pretty wrecked in the day time. I grab a few hours of nap when I can, but don't want to get totally turned around because next week I have to go back to my regular schedule, which includes teaching on Monday morning. So I had planned to grab a short run on Thursday and a long run on Saturday. My short run ended up being a little over 10 km. I went pretty slow. It wasn't so much that my body needed the mileage, but my mind did. So I ran as long as I needed to. Then today I managed to get out for a run that was just over 20 km. I ran along the Bow River from near the hospital where my mom is to past the zoo and back. It was too easy. Partly because it was flat, at least compared to what I'm used to, and partly because my mind welcomed the respite. My body feels really beat up. I have a date booked with our roller when I get home tomorrow night that's for sure. But now I can do a shorter long run next weekend, and concentrate on tempo runs between now and the race. I know I can finish feeling OK. If only I knew the same for my mom.
A rough day.
September 17 was a tough day. My mom had a 14 hour
surgery to remove as much of a brain tumor as possible. It had been scheduled
for 6-12 hours, but went even longer. Apparently the anesthetic started to wear
off part way through – it had gone much longer than the surgeon had
anticipated. I only found that out several days later. I had to teach that day,
and was on pins and needles all day as I waited for news, but just kept getting
texts that said “not done yet”. I had managed to sort things out so that I
could go be with her the following day without cancelling any classes, but
teaching on the 17th was hard. I was very glad I was giving a very
familiar lecture, albeit with adjustments, as my ability to spend time prepping
while still awaiting news about my mom’s surgery late that night was pretty
much non-existent. So I gave as good a lecture as possible under the
circumstances, spent a few hours sorting out a few last minute things for my
other class that someone was covering for me, and went to the airport.
As I waited to board, my brother texted me to see what time
I was arriving and when I would be at the hospital. I was on a 5 pm flight,
which after luggage retrieval and getting the rental car, meant I had intended
to just head to where I was staying while in Calgary, not heading to the
hospital until the next morning. But he and my mother’s husband needed some
relief, so it was decided that I would head in for a night shift. I was not
ready for this. I was mentally prepared to see her the next day, not that
night. My tears welled up. I had been holding in so much worry and emotion,
trying to not upset my son, and not cry in my classes, but it was going to need
to come out. But the gangway was not the place, so I choked the tears back in
and resolved to think about the fact that she made it through the surgery, not
the fact that it could have gone the other way. I distracted myself with bad TV
on the plane as much as possible and managed to mostly not cry the whole
flight. I got off the plane, gathered my bag, got my car (its own adventure as
it’s from an off airport location that seems a little shaky), and headed south
to where I was staying. As I drove, I was on the verge of tears, steeling
myself for my evening. I couldn’t be bothered to move off of the pre-set top 40
style radio station. About 20 minutes into my drive a song that always makes me
cry and think of my mom came on the radio. It was from our playlist from the
hospital when my son was born. My mom had come down to California for the
birth. She arrived at the hospital at a particularly bad moment, things were
going south for the first time. They stabilized us (mostly me) for a bit, but
in the end, I had an emergency c-section. Only one person was allowed in the OR
at a time, so my husband came in for the actual birth. We had hastily arranged
for my mom to come in when he left with the baby. There was a mix up and some
nurse wouldn’t let her in at the last minute. I was left alone, no baby, no
husband, and no mom, and a song that had been a favorite came on over the sound
system (the anesthesiologist hooked our ipod up to their sound system for the
section) “Are we human or are we dancer” by the Killers, as I was awash in
intense loneliness. I didn’t know she
hadn’t been allowed in, but I did know she wouldn’t have abandoned me. Now that
song always makes my heart ache, although we sometimes have family dance
parties to it because it is a song very much associated with my son’s birth.
Anyway, it came on the radio, quite different
from the other music they were playing, and I lost it. I just cried out
to my mom that I was on my way. I would be there for her. I made it to my
friends’ place shortly after that, spend an hour and a bit catching up with them
and making arrangements for my comings and goings, grabbed a spare throw
blanket from them, and headed back north to the hospital.
I hate Calgary, or more correctly, I hate getting around
Calgary. But as it turns out, the easiest route to the hospital was one that I
had made us take 2.5 weeks previous while we were on an end of summer road trip
to Alberta. Someone I follow on twitter had recommended a local tri-shop, and
we did a slight detour to get there. It took us along the 1, which merges with
a local city street for quite a while (unbeknownst to me when I requested the
route change). DH was none too happy about crawling along on what should have
been a highway, especially since in the end I didn’t end up buying anything at
the store (they didn’t have my size in the things I liked). But a customer and
the staff at the store had directed us to a great little café close by where we
had stopped for lunch. Anyway, turns out the shop and the café were right near
the hospital. So not only was I comfortable driving the route to the hospital,
I am familiar with the local roads nearby, and knew a great little café to grab
breakfast or lunch. My little unsuccessful shopping detour had prepared me
perfectly for this visit to Calgary.
The night wasn’t too bad. I was glad I had my blanket as I
was cold, mostly from being tired and stressed and not having eaten enough
during the day. The beeping of all the monitors was unpleasant, but I thought
back to something an amazing friend of mine, let’s call her Althea*, wrote. has
a child who was born with a heart defect and now lives because of a heart
donation. She is in the process of writing a book about her family’s emotional
and psychological journey called ‘Love Lemons’. It’s amazing and you all should
buy it when you can. Anyway, she has a term she invented ‘posilution’ that
basically is the act of finding something positive in everything, no matter how
awful it may seem at the time. She posiluted about the machines – they were
keeping her baby alive. The machines hooked up to my mother weren’t necessarily
doing that, but they were allowing people to monitor her, and more than once
that night, alarms went off and she needed to be checked. So the machines did
their job. So I channeled Althea and loved those machines. And I loved the fact that I have a 5 year old
son who has only rarely slept through the night. I have gone from being a very
sound sleeper to someone who wakes up at the slightest sound, and who can deal
just fine with constantly interrupted sleep. Last night, I needed to be able to
respond when my mom needed some help moving, or getting her water cup, or the
dish for her to be able to throw up into. And by respond I mean, wake up and
jump to it. So it seems that my previous unsuccessful shopping attempt and my
very poor sleeper of a child had prepared me well.
It almost seemed like fate. But when I was out for a run
this afternoon I had an insight. I am not at all religious, and to me, that
extends to not believing in any sort of force in the universe that is
responsible for things. But then how do you explain fate. Fate is just our
brains findings patterns. Out of the totality of any human being’s experiences,
a subset of them will have some relationship, however tenuous, to any other
situation. And the more open you are to seeing positive in even bad events and
circumstances, the more likely that you will see the hand of fate at work. So I
am choosing to be positive about how my past experiences made and are making
this visit easier. No guiding hand at work, just a brain that sees patterns and
a heart that is open to seeing things in a more positive light. But you can
call it fate if you want to. Since if it hadn’t been for a series of things
that lead to my developing a friendship with Althea, I wouldn’t be thinking
like this at all.
*Althea is not her real name. She writes under a pen name
but I’m not sure what it is, and I don’t want to use her real name to protect
her family’s privacy. I chose Althea for a reason though. It’s meaning is very
appropriate for her. And not just with respect to her daughter.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Changes, in life, and in plans
So as my handle implies, I'm a professor. So is my husband. So this time of year is really really crazy for us. Summers are time for recharging for us, and that time is over. Our 'free' time is pretty much non-existent as of now. (Free is in quotation marks because we don't have summers off, as many people seem to think. We just don't teach in the summers. But because of that, things are a little less insane during the summers.) This fall's even crazier. My little guy started kindergarten this past week. He's enjoying it (although he thinks he's in the wrong class - it's too easy and he's not learning anything new), which is great. But managing around his schedule is not easy. (For instance, we can't travel for work, something we need to do, without help. We've worked out our schedules so that one of us can take him to school and the other can pick him up after after-school care ends. But neither of us can do both.)
Training is going to be harder, but necessary. But I will likely not post much for the next few months.
My fall is made more complicated by the fact that, as mentioned a few posts ago, my mother has a brain tumor. She is getting surgery mid month, and I am going to be with her for a few days after her surgery. But that is complicated. I don't have the kind of job where someone can just step in and cover my classes easily. But I have managed to sort things out so I am not gone for long, and everything is covered, and importantly, by people who are very able to instruct on the particular topics on the schedule (they know as much or more than I do about it). So I feel OK about going.
It also complicates my race plans for the fall. I was supposed to be doing the Cultus Lake Triathlon again this year. But that would mean leaving DH alone with our son for the weekend, or having them both come with me. Either way, he wouldn't get any work done next weekend. And since I'll be gone the following weekend, that would mean 2 weekends of extra responsibilities for him. That's not really fair. And I was getting stressed about when I was going to get lectures prepped, admin work done, etc. (we work pretty much every weekend during the term), with two weekends being interrupted. So I made the decision not to go. Training and racing is supposed to help alleviate my stress, not cause it. And although I'm bummed that my season came to an end before I expected this year, it was the right decision and I feel good about it. I am having a hard enough time fitting in ramped up longer runs that I need to do before my half marathon in October!
Speaking of which, this week I did a 6 km tempo run on the track on Tuesday and yesterday (Sat) got in 15.7 km in the morning. That was the longest I'd run by about 3 km in about 10 months. But I finished. Next week I'll likely do the same again, and then try and go for about 17 the following weekend. Hopefully that'll be enough to get me across the finish line of the half. I was pretty knackered yesterday after the run, but feel great today, so I think I'll be OK.
Then I'd like to try some trail running I think. And DH is supposed to be trying out cyclo-cross this fall, so I look forward to being on the side-lines cheering.
Training is going to be harder, but necessary. But I will likely not post much for the next few months.
My fall is made more complicated by the fact that, as mentioned a few posts ago, my mother has a brain tumor. She is getting surgery mid month, and I am going to be with her for a few days after her surgery. But that is complicated. I don't have the kind of job where someone can just step in and cover my classes easily. But I have managed to sort things out so I am not gone for long, and everything is covered, and importantly, by people who are very able to instruct on the particular topics on the schedule (they know as much or more than I do about it). So I feel OK about going.
It also complicates my race plans for the fall. I was supposed to be doing the Cultus Lake Triathlon again this year. But that would mean leaving DH alone with our son for the weekend, or having them both come with me. Either way, he wouldn't get any work done next weekend. And since I'll be gone the following weekend, that would mean 2 weekends of extra responsibilities for him. That's not really fair. And I was getting stressed about when I was going to get lectures prepped, admin work done, etc. (we work pretty much every weekend during the term), with two weekends being interrupted. So I made the decision not to go. Training and racing is supposed to help alleviate my stress, not cause it. And although I'm bummed that my season came to an end before I expected this year, it was the right decision and I feel good about it. I am having a hard enough time fitting in ramped up longer runs that I need to do before my half marathon in October!
Speaking of which, this week I did a 6 km tempo run on the track on Tuesday and yesterday (Sat) got in 15.7 km in the morning. That was the longest I'd run by about 3 km in about 10 months. But I finished. Next week I'll likely do the same again, and then try and go for about 17 the following weekend. Hopefully that'll be enough to get me across the finish line of the half. I was pretty knackered yesterday after the run, but feel great today, so I think I'll be OK.
Then I'd like to try some trail running I think. And DH is supposed to be trying out cyclo-cross this fall, so I look forward to being on the side-lines cheering.
A good trip
So August was a whirlwind month. We spent the last 2 weeks of the month on a big road trip. We camped for 3 nights at Kettle River Provincial campground. We love it. We've now been there 3 times and will be back. It's got big sites, spread out from each other, a playground for the kids, a river to frolic in (with some pool like spots so it's not all current), great other campers, and it's on the Trans Canada Trail. DH got in a bike ride or two, and I did two 'good' runs. I went out with the intension of running for 1.5 hours, but it was super duper hot and I only have 2 small bottles on my run belt. The trail merges with road for a bit and there the heat got overwhelming, so I decided to turn around at that point and cut my run short. It still ended up being about an hour (I'm trying to up my mileage to get ready for an upcoming half marathon.) Better cut a run short than collapse on the route (although DH knew exactly where I was going and how long I expected to be out - we're really careful about that when working out while traveling). Then a few days later the heat broke and I went out in the other direction for a tempo run. That run went really well, and I was feeling good about managing to get in workouts while traveling.
Then the weather turned nasty, as in, thunder storm nasty. By that time we had moved on, and headed towards Nelson, BC. I have some family there we try to see when we can, and we had a campsite booked nearby. Son loved seeing the Kokanee run, and we loved seeing my family, but we didn't stay in the area long - the weather was going to be awful and we were at a site with no trees, and so no way to put up tarps (we're old school - we tent). So off we went to Wasa Lake. Got there in the dusk and set up camp quickly enough to beat the rain. We managed to get packed up the next day before it really started to pour too. Unfortunately the little guy didn't get to ride in the little dirt track they have there. He would have loved it. DH is a smart man, and figured we might want a break after so many nights camping, so next we were off to a condo in Invermere. Son enjoyed the pool, DH got in a really great ride (his first 100km ride ever) and I went for a 40 min run. Wasn't out for any speed records, just wanted to move my legs, and it's a town on a hill, so it was not unchallenging. But it felt great to get out and run. I was thinking at how 2 years ago when I started moving again running for 25 minutes was super hard. And now a 40 minute run is a nice short jaunt for me. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I've come a long way. And that feels good.
From there we were off to Calgary to visit with friends and more family. DH did another ride, and I got out for a fartlek session on the path along the river in Okotoks. Then it was off to Drumheller. My son is mad for dinsosaurs, has been for years. Last time we visited the Royal Tyrell Museum he was 3 and we told him if he still liked dinosaurs in 2 years we'd go back. Well, we went back. Eating well was harder there, as we were reliant on restaurants and the selection there isn't great, to say the least. But we stayed at a nice litle B&B style inn with self-serve breakfasts, so at least we could start our days as we wanted.
Then in was back through Calgary on our way west again. I popped into Tri It Multisport. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything I wanted in my size, but I would totally shop there if I lived closer. The staff (and customer) there pointed us to a great little cafe nearby for lunch, the Extreme Bean Cafe, so it was worth stopping in.
Then we camped at Lake Louis. We won't be back. Partly it was the weather, cold and wet, and partly it was just the vibe. It was very transient, people weren't really there in the day time, so there were no kids playing or riding around together in the typical bike posse that is common in campgrounds. DH got in a wretched ride (cold cold rain hit while he was descending) and I didn't even bother. I'm reluctant to go trail running solo with the threat of bears being so high, and I am trying very very hard to avoid too much time on the pavement. Anyway, after 3 nights there we were ready for some inside time, so it was good that we were done with camping.
We spent the next 2 nights in a 'hotel' in Golden, BC. It was cold there too, but we found a few neat restaurants that were totally unexpected, and I discovered that pool running can be a good workout. The place had a pool and the little guy really wanted to hang out there for a while. So I snuck in a bit of a workout while he played. Although we'd planned a trip out to Alberta this summer anyway, the timing was dictated by a wedding, my brother's, that was the day before Labour Day at Emerald Lake. It was a lovely occasion in a spectacular setting. But given that all three of us had the first day of school 2 days after the wedding, it meant a long drive back to Vancouver the day after the wedding. So staying somewhere that cut even a little bit of time off of the drive seemed like a good thing.
Anyway, that's a very abbreviated version.
Then the weather turned nasty, as in, thunder storm nasty. By that time we had moved on, and headed towards Nelson, BC. I have some family there we try to see when we can, and we had a campsite booked nearby. Son loved seeing the Kokanee run, and we loved seeing my family, but we didn't stay in the area long - the weather was going to be awful and we were at a site with no trees, and so no way to put up tarps (we're old school - we tent). So off we went to Wasa Lake. Got there in the dusk and set up camp quickly enough to beat the rain. We managed to get packed up the next day before it really started to pour too. Unfortunately the little guy didn't get to ride in the little dirt track they have there. He would have loved it. DH is a smart man, and figured we might want a break after so many nights camping, so next we were off to a condo in Invermere. Son enjoyed the pool, DH got in a really great ride (his first 100km ride ever) and I went for a 40 min run. Wasn't out for any speed records, just wanted to move my legs, and it's a town on a hill, so it was not unchallenging. But it felt great to get out and run. I was thinking at how 2 years ago when I started moving again running for 25 minutes was super hard. And now a 40 minute run is a nice short jaunt for me. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I've come a long way. And that feels good.
From there we were off to Calgary to visit with friends and more family. DH did another ride, and I got out for a fartlek session on the path along the river in Okotoks. Then it was off to Drumheller. My son is mad for dinsosaurs, has been for years. Last time we visited the Royal Tyrell Museum he was 3 and we told him if he still liked dinosaurs in 2 years we'd go back. Well, we went back. Eating well was harder there, as we were reliant on restaurants and the selection there isn't great, to say the least. But we stayed at a nice litle B&B style inn with self-serve breakfasts, so at least we could start our days as we wanted.
Then in was back through Calgary on our way west again. I popped into Tri It Multisport. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything I wanted in my size, but I would totally shop there if I lived closer. The staff (and customer) there pointed us to a great little cafe nearby for lunch, the Extreme Bean Cafe, so it was worth stopping in.
Then we camped at Lake Louis. We won't be back. Partly it was the weather, cold and wet, and partly it was just the vibe. It was very transient, people weren't really there in the day time, so there were no kids playing or riding around together in the typical bike posse that is common in campgrounds. DH got in a wretched ride (cold cold rain hit while he was descending) and I didn't even bother. I'm reluctant to go trail running solo with the threat of bears being so high, and I am trying very very hard to avoid too much time on the pavement. Anyway, after 3 nights there we were ready for some inside time, so it was good that we were done with camping.
We spent the next 2 nights in a 'hotel' in Golden, BC. It was cold there too, but we found a few neat restaurants that were totally unexpected, and I discovered that pool running can be a good workout. The place had a pool and the little guy really wanted to hang out there for a while. So I snuck in a bit of a workout while he played. Although we'd planned a trip out to Alberta this summer anyway, the timing was dictated by a wedding, my brother's, that was the day before Labour Day at Emerald Lake. It was a lovely occasion in a spectacular setting. But given that all three of us had the first day of school 2 days after the wedding, it meant a long drive back to Vancouver the day after the wedding. So staying somewhere that cut even a little bit of time off of the drive seemed like a good thing.
Anyway, that's a very abbreviated version.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
MEC Langley sprint triathlon race report
I registered for the MEC Langley triathlon a little late, on
a bit of a whim. I had been leaving the last half of July and first half of
August open for camping trips, and so hadn’t planned on racing at all in that
span of time. But since we weren’t going to go away (and if we did at the last
minute I would only be out $35, yes, the registration fee was only $35!) I
figured why not. It’d give me a race every month for May-October.
I was hoping my new Smashfest Queen tri kit would arrive in
time. I ordered it ages ago, but in a size that wouldn’t ship until late
August. Lucky for me it arrived on Friday. So in time for the race, but not in
time for using it beforehand. I was OK with breaking the ‘never race in
anything you haven’t trained in’ rule though. This race was just a fun one for
me. I wasn’t concerned with my time or performance at all. Heck, we went to
some friends’ house for dinner the night before and I even had a glass and a
half of wine!
So I got my stuff all ready the night before, ready for my 5
am wake-up call, was on the road by 5:45, and arrived at the race site by 6:30.
I am so not a morning person, and find it almost painful to get up that early.
But wearing my new kit helped, as did the rousing Irish modern folk music
(which totally could have been Ashley MacIsaac) playing on CBC as I left the
house. (I think it was a feed from Radio Ireland.)
I wasn’t as organized as usual, but hadn’t forgotten
anything, although I was so relaxed about the whole thing that I was certain I
must have. The race did seem a bit disorganized, partly due to it being the
first year, and partly due to a lot of last minute sign-ups I think. But once I
got started it seemed to be very well run, and if I’m around, I’d totally do
the race again. People were very friendly, lots of the race folks cheering the
athletes along the way, as well as fellow athletes cheering each other on.
Although I wasn’t in it to win it, or anything even close, I
did try my best, and was very happy with my performance. It started with a 750
pool swim. I did the swim in just under 16 minutes, which was 1:30 faster than
I had anticipated. (My official swim time was 16:39, but that included the time
to get from the pool to the door where the timing mat was.) My bike (a little
under 20 km) clocked in at 43:10, but that included both transitions. And my
run, which was a little over 5 km was 27:32. I would have been happy with that
pace even if it hadn’t ended on a long, long, steep hill. The worst part of the
race by far, and one that you spent the whole run dreading; the run started by
going down the hill, so you knew what you had waiting for you on your return. I
was very glad for all the hill training I do, both up and down. I just kept
thinking to myself, I do my hill 8 times in training, I can get up this one
once damnit! My total time was 1:27:19, so under 1:30 for a full sprint, which
I was really happy with. (The Qualicum beach tri has a much shorter swim, an 18
km bike, and a run that’s under 5 km.)
I placed 103rd overall, 34/100 women, and 10/29
in my age group, which was women aged 40-49.
I have one thing to add. I was so happy that my new kit
arrived in time. I so wanted something bright and nice to look at to wear. But I hadn’t
given any thought to how much attention such bright fun kit would get. I am an
introvert. I don’t like to be noticed much. But the Sunrise kit does not fade
into the background. Not at all. But it did lead to more encouragement that I
might have gotten otherwise, and it did make me push myself a little harder. It
sounds silly, because I have nothing to do with the brand, but I felt like I
had to represent them well. So when I was flagging it gave me a little extra
push to keep going, and to keep my form good to make my run better. I don’t
have any photos unfortunately, as I was not going to make my son and husband
get up and out of the house that early to come with me. But MEC had someone
taking pictures, so there may be one or two race photos I can link to later.
(As I said, the kit got noticed, so I know they took a few of me.)
A new bike, a new rider, and a reminder of how precious life and health are
I’ve been a bit remiss at posting anything on the blog
recently. That’s because August has been one heck of a month so far. My
birthday was in the first week, and I had decided to get myself a new commuter
bike. So I spent a few days searching out and trying cyclocross bikes. In the
end, I changed course and bought a commuter bike. It's a lovely Norco Indie Drop Alfine. Yes, the one with the electronic shifting. It’s in the shop getting (at
least partially) kitted out for me. (Partially because the new carbon fork won’t
be in before I need it for a camping vacation, and so that’ll have to wait
until we get back.) I got a really good deal on it, but not so great service from the shop I bought it from. So I'm getting all the work done at Bikes for All, a shop we love.
But the real kicker this month was that 3 days before my birthday I found out that my Mom had
been diagnosed with a brain tumor. It’s not cancer, but it’s still pretty
scary. The whole diagnoses and treatment planning thing was a bit of a screw up
on the part of doctors, but I don’t want to go into that as it seems to be
settled now. I may be mid-40s, but my mom is young given my age. And I have a
young son who loves his Gramma. She has 4 other young grandchildren too, who
all need their grandparent. Thankfully, it looks like we all get to keep her with
us for a while longer.
It made me think about what life would be like if she
were gone and I’m not ready. So it’s been a bit of a whirlwind of emotions. It
made me want to stop training. It made me want to hide in my house. But it also
reminded me why I started tri training, to be healthy and present and alive for
my young son, so I got back out on the trails and roads again. Which was good,
since my little guy learned to ride his pedal bike over this time. He has been
using a run bike for a while now, but decided (I think in part due to a little
guy we met camping a few weeks back) that he was ready for the pedal bike. It
took him 1 try to be able to ride with a slight downhill. Then 2 or 3 rides
later he was zipping around on the flats, head down over the handle bars
looking for bumps to fly over and obstacles to swerve around. He loves his bike
and want to go ride every evening. It's so much fun to watch him bomb around, the joy on his face can be seen for miles. The first day he was able to ride on the flat we were at a local school parking lot (no flat near our home) some people were out in their yard across the street, enjoying a beer in the warm summer evening. They witness a kid who couldn't ride suddenly become one who could, and who was beaming with pride. They cheered for him as we left to go home. He was a little bit embarrassed by that, but he also loved it. And now can even conquer some hills with his
new lighter bike. Yes, he got a new bike last week too, which was actually the
third bike we purchased last week. (My husband got himself a new one too. We
are all set for a while now. Well, unless I decide to get a cyclocross bike
after all. They’re fun to ride!) Kids bike are so heavy; most of them are made of
steel. But we found him a nice specialized 16” at the Bike Gallery. We lucked
out and got a used one, so we saved a little bit of money. (In fact, all three
bikes were very much on sale, so although it was an expensive week, it wasn’t
as bad as it could have been.)
And I got in a bit of training too. Which is good, given
that I had a triathlon to do on Sunday. But that will get its own post.
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