2013 Recap (3/3) : A year in pictures

Finally, my favorite post. This is where you get "the scoop" on my life, outside workouts and races. It's also a bit of challenge for me because the days/months/years always seem to go by too fast and I can barely remember what I had for breakfast. But the photos should be good visual aids, so let's try this (again).

January

Our little family goes on a trip to Disney World, with a stop in Philly to visit my friend Laura. I run the Rocky steps and feel like I'm on top of the world. I even get to meet Rocky, the statuesque kind. Then my husband goes all romantic on me because it's our 15th anniversary.

In Florida, I try to relax in between countless rides and lineups. Not for the faint of heart, this trip leaves me drained. Let's not do this again any time soon, okay?

Alas I don't get any downtime and I fly to Las Vegas for CES (work) without even coming back home. In total I end up sleeping in hotel beds for 20 days straight.

Once I get back home though, things return to normal. I enjoy cold baths because they keep my legs happy after running long.

February

At the beginning of the month we get our first snow storm of the winter and the kids go nuts. I spend one of the most frightening nights in a hospital with my older son, complete with ambulance rides, x-rays, CT scan and MRI.

I find myself trying to cope with a new sort of stress - caring for a hurt child. But thankfully running allows me to sweat it all out and ride the high of endorphins.

March

I buy my first bike trainer and start working out with Trainer Road. The Pain Cave is born.

I find on eBay a hat and scarf that I had bought in 2003 and lost the year before. Wearing them makes everything better.

The snow goes away as quickly as it came, and all of a sudden I don't need a hat and scarf anymore.

April

I lose my job and I get a lot of spare time to do whatever I want with in between sending out resumes. I get to travel to Philly again, this time to attend my friend's photo exhibit and spend some quality time with my camera and the trails.

I discover Blue Mountain coffee.

And Farro.

 And when I come back home, I taste my first ever AG placement medal.

May

Spring has sprung! There are flowers everywhere and I even take my camera out for a walk on the Etobicoke Trail to photograph the Sakura.

I run in shorty shorts for the first time ever. I am not convinced they are for me yet. Most likely, I need to lose some thigh fat for them not to ride up.

I try to stay away from sweets, so I sniff them instead. 

I also seem to like smelling the grass.

I travel to Muskoka to ride the 70.3 bike course and I treat myself with Kawartha's ice cream because it's THE Best Thing Ever and I deserve it, dammit.

June

We go to soccer games because we enjoy watching our favorite team lose. No, seriously, it's not like we have a choice. TFC sucks, we've never seen them win a game this year.

We also flaunt our tan lines.

And our wetsuits.

I ride my bike in the rain and learn to pee on it. Seriously, folks, it's a skill. 

I find a new job, very close to home, that takes me into a new direction. I discover the ups and downs of working in a big IT company. My free time gets reduced to weekends, and not even all of them, but I don't complain.

I bike the Muskoka course once more, this time with my friend Carol. In the rain, because it's so much fun.

July

More bike rides with friends, like this 100km one with Orville through the Hockley Valley and the Forks of the Credit, complete with suicide mission on the Hwy 10.

Miraculously we survive to tell the tale.

Another day, while biking through Caledon, I meet a beautiful horse on a walk with his owner.

Then I drive my boys to camp and I meet the cutest dog in the world.

Cuteness overload!!

August

I do a race simulation day with the coach and a bunch of folks from the tri club and I curse every minute of it. Heat, wind and way too many hills. Oh yes, I remember asking for it.

We travel to Mt. Tremblant to volunteer at the Ironman and we ride the official bike course (one 90km loop).

I like it so much that this happens. I sign up for the Ironman too!

My hubby buys me a new bike because there is no going back now.

September

We race our first Ironman 70.3 and we have the best day ever.

But soon enough I start missing my favorite lake and my bubble of bliss.

And things go downhill from there. I declare that I officially hate pool swimming.

October

We travel to Sandbanks with the boys for the weekend and we enjoy a long walk on the beach. Too cold for a swim, alas.

While training for the marathon, I do some trail running to mix things up, with personal support on two wheels. Despite his best efforts to cheer me up, that day remains pure torture. I had enough of running, biking and racing in the rain by then.

November

The racing season reaches an end with the Hamilton Marathon. I get to meet the #burlingtonskirtbrigade in their nude leg glory in minus temperatures. But they all warm my heart with their kind souls and laughs.

We take the boys away for another weekend and I get to recover from the marathon by climbing walls and wobbly structures. 

 And slowly cooking in the sauna.

On "mandatory fun day" with the office folks, I score a turkey, but I also bust my hip. I wake up the next morning with a bad cramp in my glutes.

December

A few days later, the pain in my butt turns into a full blown injury. I have to stop exercising, but after a week of intense physio therapy, at least I can walk. We go away for the weekend again, this time to attend my husband's office party. 

I visit the largest Toonie in the world, which unfortunately does not increase my fortune magically.
A few days later, as I start my holiday staycation, the ice storm of the century hits Ontario and destroys everything with branches that isn't bendy enough. Even walking outside becomes a dangerous workout.

I take my time and relax, and relax... waiting for things to turn around. 

Hello there 2014!! You're going to be good to me, right?

2013 Recap (2/3) : A year in races

In 2013 I took the "one race a month" recipe and I cooked a great season, filled with new PRs and more smiles than ever while crossing the finish line. It was perfect in all the ways that I can think of. I met all my goals, which were not to die, pass out or puke, and I did not collect any acronyms starting with DN. I had a few close calls, but overall only good memories to bring into the new season.

In January hubbs and I did the Virtual Half Goofy Challenge, organized by Cori to support her fundraising efforts for Team in Training. It gave us a boost to add some longer than usual runs for this time of the year and enjoy the crisp outdoors in the middle of the Canadian winter. Thankfully it was much warmer than it is right now (-30C today, whaaaaat?!).

In February we continued increasing the mileage and in March, we ran our first "full" Around The Bay 30K (not in a relay as in the previous years). My coach said to run it as a training run, with a 10K tempo in the middle. As a good student, I did exactly like he said, but managed a 30K PR anyway. Boom!

I wasn't planning to race in April, but rather pace my boys in their first 5K race, the Run 4 Hope, organized by my triathlon club, pretty much in my backyard. But eventually Zin volunteered to pace them, so I was left with a last minute decision which turned into "race hard and show coach what you can do" type of thing. It ended with another PR and a 2nd in my AG placement. Woot woot!

Just a week later, I was supposed to do my first half marathon of the year, hence the reluctance in racing the 5K a week prior. But going all out in a 5K must have put my legs into overdrive, because at the Goodlife Toronto Half Marathon I ended up with another PR and finished under 2h for the first time ever.

As soon as June came, the triathlon season started and I could not wait to get back in the lake and ride my bike. What I had not anticipated, was that the first race was going to be a mud fest under the pouring rain. I was really happy that they did not cancel the swim and I could go out there and test my fitness in challenging conditions. I had a smile bigger than my face the whole day at Guelph Lake Olympic Triathlon. I love racing in the rain!

Another month, another Oly. In July, we took on the Toronto Triathlon Festival which is becoming a family affair. It was also Zin's first triathlon. We both had stellar races and I finished under 3h, beating my previous year's best by 22 minutes. Not too shabby!

Our A race of the year, Ironman Muskoka 70.3 came fast afterwards, at the beginning of September. We trained for it the whole year, we even traveled to Muskoka and rode the course twice before the race, to get acquainted with the relentless hills. I won't lie, it was challenging, it was exhilarating, but in the end it left me wanting for more. I had a great day out there, enjoying every km, even if they seemed like going on forever sometimes (this IM is longer than the regular 70.3 by 2.5 miles and the only flat part of the race is the swim). I finished under my 7h goal and I could not be happier with the way I handled my effort and nutrition out there.

Coming back from Muskoka, I could not fathom that my racing season was over though... I recovered from the race very quickly and decided to continue training for a November marathon. I wasn't going to put in the usual mileage because I knew I could finish it anyway, but I did put in quite a few 20km+ long runs in the weeks prior to the race. I decided to travel to Picton in October and run the County Half Marathon as one of these training runs.

It started and ended under the pouring rain, again. I got soaked to the bone, but I had one of the best days ever. One day I will run the full marathon there, that's for sure.

Last but not least, the Hamilton Marathon arrived on a chilly, but sunny day of November and I had once more, the time of my life, setting a long awaited marathon PR. I don't regret a single minute spent training and racing it. It really felt like the culmination of my racing season and reaching a goal that had been eluding me for more than a year.

I finished the season feeling happy and accomplished. Even though I injured my hip a month later, it doesn't take away the fact that it's been my best racing season so far. I had a lot of fun racing with family and friends, and all these experiences cemented my love for triathlons and racing long. I can't wait for the next season, hopefully pain free and with a new distance PR, the mighty 140.6.