Fun and torturous times

This summer is going by so fast! Maybe because of the anticipation of new beginnings in September... and because we're just 3 days away from the end of July, for crying out loud. That's it, the countdown to setting the Christmas tree has started.

My athletic endeavors have been rather uneventful lately, which is probably a good thing. If you remember my plans stated here last week, I managed to keep myself accountable for at least the triathlon related workouts. On Thursday I went to the lake for our weekly OWS and spent most of the time with two new members, helping them to become more comfortable in deep water. This left me with just enough time to do a 750m loop on my own, and it was a good way to clear my head at the end of a stressful day. To add more endorphins to the mix, I also followed the swim with a 6km run around the lake. Judging by the tightness in my knees, it is probably the max distance that I can run right now and I can't really complain. I'll take anything over 30 minutes as a good enough challenge for my wobbly joints.

Friday was another scorching day and Taekwondo did not happen. Neither did the Saturday black belt training as I chose to spend some time with my family instead. I did make it to the little party that our school put for our team representing Canada at the ITF World Championships in London, UK. It was pretty sweet and I hope our team is going to bring some shiny hardware back this week.

His and hers

The next day I had to wake up early for our club's second triathlon simulation day of the year. And 5:30am is damn early for a Sunday. Oh the things we do for our members... After marking the course, Zin and I went over to Professor's Lake to set up the transition racks, the tent and the whole shebang with the rest of the crew. Of course, I also had to set up my own transition spot. I was going to "race" after all.

You can tell how hot it's been this year by the color of the grass.

Aww, isn't he a sweet hubby? Thank you hon.

All set! Isn't Trinity pretty with her red tyres?

I got in the water shortly after 8am and swam 2 loops trying to stay close to Mellen who seemed to have a few difficulties swimming straight, which gave me a little advantage on the distance and made me feel like a champion mermaid. That's what happens when you get only 3h of sleep, eh Mellen? However she swam another loop and biked some 100km afterwards, so I'm just pretending to compete here, haha.

Then it was time to bike. I was supposed to lead the beginners' group, but I only had one taker, so I rode with an older gentleman called Dave who was just about the perfect match for a 40km relaxed ride. He was also quite chatty, so I had a good time. Until I found out that we had an acquaintance in common who died 2 years ago, that is. Unbelievable. A person who I considered the epitome of success in life, who had everything going for him: fame, fortune, a beautiful family, and the most amazing house, where I used to go party with the company I worked for when I first came to Canada. He was one of the kindest and most knowledgeable people I knew, and a genius in the field of mathematics. And cancer took all this away. Yet another reason to say: Fuck cancer.

Oof, that was heavy. Back to our cancer fighting activities (one can hope, right?). Last on the day's menu, the run. Dave and I went running together as well, and thankfully we managed to change subjects in time to appreciate our surroundings. A loop around Professor's Lake and everything was right with the world again. While on the run I was, of course, pokemoning, and trying to make an omelette with a few eggs in my Pokedex. One of them refused to hatch when the time was up, so I continued running in (little) circles until it did, which brought my total to 4.7km run. You gotta do what you gotta do (aka I'm that cuckoo. Some call it stupid too, and I'm totally fine with it - you should see the number of Instagram and twitter users that I lost since I started talking Pokemon Go).

Doesn't it look like fun?

Alright, once that was done I could finally call it a day. We dismantled the transition zone, packed everything and went back home. I had to meet with hubbs later on to pick up his bike because he was doing a "mega" training day (3km swim, 140km bike, 30km run) and he was afraid to leave it in his car in the middle of the Caledon trailway. I spent the rest of the day waiting (and worrying) for him that he was going to melt under the hot sun. I am glad that he didn't, but he came back home 10lb lighter (not a joke).

This week I took a rest day on Monday, not only because there are no Taekwondo classes for two weeks, but also because I was going to start a new Trainer Road bike program the next day in preparation for Barrelman swim/bike where I will be defending my AG win from last year. So on Tuesday, after much procrastinating, I opened my laptop, clipped on my (power) pedals and started the 1h torture (Strava 8 min FTP test here). Zin set the workout for me at 85% down from my previous FTP, where I used virtual power thanks to my speed/cadence sensor and the trainer data. This time, the truth was going to come out, whether I wanted it or not. As I said from the beginning, I was pretty sure that I lost 30 virtual watts between the previous FTP and this one, and I was bang on the money.

Overall I am rather happy how I paced this test and proud that I pushed through when the tough got tougher. One can only look at my max HR during these intervals to feel my pain.

I was surprised to see that the test did not destroy me as I had feared. The next day I even went for another 6km run and I survived it just fine. Tomorrow I took another day off from work and I plan on going on another bike ride with Mellen, then Kingston triathlon race on Sunday! I will be doing the (longer) sprint, while Zin will be doing the long course tri. An exciting week for sure!

If you are in Canada, do you have any plans for the long weekend? For me, any long weekend is good enough reason to be giddy! Have fun, kids!

Back at it

So the ribs situation, while annoying because I cannot sleep very well, is not a deal breaker. Last week I went back to Taekwondo and we had to run 6km (like every class from now on). I was apprehensive to have my insides hit my ribs while in motion, but in the end it was not too bad. It felt like I had a stubborn side stitch and the next day the pain was a lot milder. Go figure. Only a dull, constant pain remained. No more sharp shooting pain, so... yay? The next day we had to run another 6km. That too went well, although I had some pain in the knee that kept coming and going, just to mess with my mojo. Stupid knee, I bet next time it's going to be the other one to bother me. I guess I am still not ready to run two days in a row. By the end of the week I could even do some kicks and add some power into them, so things are moving into the right direction. Still not much core power to help me with balance, but that too shall come back one day.

Alright, enough with the complaints for today. After the crazy training sessions during the week, I took it up a notch on Saturday. How masochistic I am, you must be wondering.

In the middle of a career change (more on this later), I had signed up to attend an event put together by the Women in Arboriculture Canada group, my new adoptive family. I woke up early (for a Saturday, but not for a triathlete!) and drove to St Thomas, about 15km south of London, ON. Arrived there right on time to grab a tshirt, a few promotional materials, a buff and a catalogue for Universal Field Supplies, the Arborist reference store in the Peel region. Rope, carabiners, pulleys, harnesses - OH MY. After getting introduced people left and right, whose names I mostly forgot, we watched a demo for Single Rope Technique done with both fancy, and not as fancy gear, then got released into the wild to climb (designated) trees in the park.

Our playground for the day

Arborists in the wild

Tree climbing champions - learning from the best!

I want this setup

Girls know how to have fun

Excuse my butt hanging out of my pants - but I am climbing a tree!!

I am not in there, but not far. About 5 girls up ahead.

I had my own challenges during the day because I went completely unprepared, resulting in some painful blisters on my hands. The only piece of equipment that I could use was my hard hat which I had to wear while under the canopy. The rest of the equipment was graciously lent by other ladies who didn't even flinch at the idea of sharing with a complete n00b that they met an hour before. I learned lots, met awesome people and had a good upper body workout to prove that I belonged in this "industrial athletes" group.

The next day I had to wake up early again, boo. This time, for an open water swim, the second of the season with the FMCT tri club at Professor's Lake. It was super windy and the lake had a nice chop, therefore I chose to spare my ribs (see what I did here?) and swim only one 750m loop. It was more than enough. I returned home so tired, that I jumped back in bed and slept until noon.

And this completed my epic week of crazy, adventurous workouts. Let's see how this one goes.

My finest video editing moment yet

In absence of motivation to go swimming, I attended our club's last indoor swimming practice last week on Tuesday. I am sharing this because I got to play with our rarely used GoPro and had a lot of fun following people up and down the pool during their workout, mentally analyzing everyone's technique because you gotta put your NCCP certification at work sometimes, even if it's for nothing. Nobody is paying me to give them feedback and I do that for free anyway because I have this tendency to give unsolicited advice left and right, especially when I'm drunk. But I digress.

Lo and behold, the fruit of my first video editing attempt, playing with Windows Movie Maker. This was also a first. In the past I used some fancier software because I needed color correction and flipping images and whatnot. Now I treat videos more radically. Yellow tint? Cut, cut, cut! Man, I can't hold on the thought train today. Back to the subject, once again: my personal greatness in filmmaking. Tadaaaaa. You will need to play it with sound, because it took me only 2h to find the right soundrack, free of copyright, so that Youtube doesn't choke on it. And I'm damn proud of it. Please tell me that I don't suck. My ego really needs some stroking on this dreadful Monday.


I know you liked it. But please don't judge my peeps, or I'll break your ribs.

Oh yeah, on that note, my ribs are still giving me a lot of grief. I spent last week heavily medicated, had to work from home two days and went to my ART specialist to see what exactly was out of whack because no other doctor would touch my ribs. The doctors would look at them, say... yep, you're broken. Stop this. Go back to taking pictures or something. Stop hitting people. You're too old for this shit. No, seriously.

I heard that before, about 10 years ago when I fractured a leg hitting my heavy bag. But I ain't giving up, so stop telling me what's good for me. Alas I was also unable to exercise because any movement of my trunk would send me screaming and hyperventilating.

On Saturday I had to take my car to the mechanic to replace a broken muffler and decided to come back home by bike. My first time back on the saddle since the Muskoka long weekend, and it didn't suck. I could breathe through it quite nicely, but I also had the wind at my back and no hills to power up to. I was optimistic that I could return to exercising and I stopped all painkillers. Today I also went back to ART for another torture session. I feel so good after these sessions, they're crack, pun intended. I am not a masochist, but I can move a lot better afterwards and I am no longer in huge amounts of pain, at least for 6h or so. Hopefully it will last longer this time... At least until after my evening Taekwondo class. I did not go at all last week because I'm not THAT stupid.

I don't know what I'll be able to do, running is still out of question because all the bouncing inside my belly is very painful. Maybe I'll work on my patterns and my sine wave, Or I could just listen to my teacher and stop being such a pussy. Not verbatim, of course, he'd get some weird looks if he said that. But sometimes he means it, alright. Will let you know how it goes... Upward and onward! And if you are not confused enough, my first triathlon race is two and a half weeks from now!

Believe, do something

Last week was a lot more manageable. Not only I had Monday off and spent a few good hours riding my bike with friends, but it also went pretty well on all fronts (work, family, monster slaying). Thanks to Emma, there is even a new picture of Zin and I worth of a frame now. Aren't we cute?

It's now saved as wallpaper on all my electronic devices. In my happy place with the love of my life, it can't get better than that.
Here are a few more from the day because why not?

We had to wait for a train. Now that was a first.
Then Zin posed with our fearless ride leader Emma, who just as I thought, has grown some nice muscles in those legs of hers over the winter. I can't even. She's now waaaaay stronger. But I love her just the same. She's going to kick some serious ass in her first ever triathlon season.

On Tuesday I took a day off. Alas not from work, but I gave my legs a rest since riding 100km over two days was a bit of a shock to them.

However, I showed up to the track the next day, especially after promising to a young member of our club that I would work out with him. I took him under my wing since he joined and it's amazing to see him taking his first steps into triathlon so to speak. He's determined, and I think that he will do pretty good once he gets a little more confident. For now it's all about enjoying the process of learning new skills and building a good base, one km at a time. I am really happy for the opportunity to be there for him.

So we did the speed workout and overall we ran/walked for 5.6km. My legs felt just fine, but mostly because it was interval work and I gave myself plenty of rest in between the fast laps. It was a short workout, but it made me believe that a comeback may be around the corner. My PT seems to have a plan for me. He keeps telling me that I'm making progress and I have a sneaky suspicion that, not only he wants me to go back to running, but also get faster.

On Thursday I went to the pool and swam 3 x 700m in my ROKA SIM shorts. Despite being a bit lower in the water than the week before, I managed to swim 5sec faster per 100m, mostly due to paying attention to my stroke for as long as I could keep focus. I'll timidly call this progress.

Then on Friday I went to my physio where I worked hard as usual, doing all kinds of running and strength focused exercises. This PT really knows how to tap into your psyche and make you feel good about yourself. Which may have been a little foolish of him, because this happened as soon as I got back to the office:

Yes, you read this right. 5 races (because discounts matter)! All sprints, with the exception of Wasaga Beach Triathlon. For now the Muskoka 70.3 is still on the schedule, but I will most likely drop out after the swim, or the bike or walk the 1/2 marathon, or not do it at all. I will be there because it's my hubbs' A race, but I don't have any expectations for myself. It'll probably be as foolish to even toe the line.

Alright, so now that's done, I'd better get in the groove, right? On Saturday I went back on my bike, this time with the FMCT tri club. It was a very chilly day (only 2C when I woke up!), but Zin and I plus 3 other brave souls showed up and we rode to Erin for a treat at Holtom's Bakery, then came back all schuss on Mississauga Rd, which is always a great adrenalin trip. I didn't even beat my fastest time on this downhill, but of course, I wasn't drafting behind Zin. Here are some pictures from day because they are all awesome memories.

I came back home and relaxed for the rest of the day, then on Sunday I did it again. Well, not quite, but our club organized a "brick day" and this time I showed my young friend how to change gears on his brand new road bike and bomb all downhills because it's always a pity not to! Then we ran for a bit on the Caledon Trailway and called it a successful day.

Needless to say, I feel much better today.

Almost 9h of training this week. Say whaaat?

2014 Run4Hope 5K Race Report

I ran this race for the first time last year and it became one of my favourites. The course is beautiful, around Professor's Lake in Brampton, a mere 5min driving distance from my house. I run there all the time, especially in the summer after swimming in the lake with the local FMCT tri club (which I now lead with a few other lovely folks). Speaking of which, come join us if you want to train with other people passionate about triathlons, running and fitness. We have lots of activities in store for our members this year!

The race has been organized by FMCT club members for 10 years now and obviously I know a lot about it for being a member myself. I think it's a great initiative that has brought to our city people from all over the Toronto area and gives an opportunity to many Peel schools to measure themselves against each other. Its proceeds go towards a great charity called "Sky's the Limit", which provides laptops to children in need. My boys both raced it last year, but only my youngest decided to come back this year. Must have had something to do with the fact that there were finisher medals for everyone for its 10th anniversary. ;-)

Given that I raced my heart out at Yonge St. 10K a few weeks ago, I decided to go into this race with no expectations whatsoever and pace my son instead of going for a PR. This was also going to give Zin the opportunity to go for his own 5k record, since he'd never officially raced this distance before. We woke up leisurely at 7am and had a nice breakfast, then drove the short distance to Professor's Lake. I was on a schedule: do the race, then drive back home and run 11km more as coach's plan called for 16km that day, with 8km in the middle at 1/2 marathon pace.

We got there with plenty of time to spare for selfies and to cheer on our other friends who were racing in the 10k distance.

Shortly after 9am the gun went off and we, too, started our little loop around the lake. The first 1.5k are mostly downhill and I think that I started my son a bit too quickly. Talk about pacing #fail. He needed to run at 6min/km, but my Garmin kept on jumping between 5:30 and 6:30 and I assumed that we were averaging 6min/km, when in fact we were actually closer to 5:30min/km. I kept on asking my son how he was doing though and he said just fine, so I didn't worry that much. Only that after 2km, when we hit the first uphill, he got a side stitch and we had to start walking...The next 1-2km were a bit of a struggle to make the pain go away - I shared all the tips I knew - change breathing pattern, hit ground with opposite foot on exhaling, push on the area with the fingers and eventually, walk and practice deep breathing. Eventually, around km 4, the stitch went away and we started picking up the pace again.

It was really such a beautiful day, that hurrying up to finish was almost a pity. Despite the temporary pain, we were definitely enjoying ourselves. Once we got on the final stretch along the lake, we started preparing ourselves for THE photo. Seeing Sue Sitki and her camera just as we go around the last corner before the Finish chute is always a treat. Not only she is a great race photographer (and cake maker!!), but as a photographer myself, I knew that the weather conditions were going to make for beautiful pics. Plus, this year, she made them all free! Here they are:

Zin was pushing hard in the last 100m, while my son and I were changing gears towards the finish. All schuss from there! We finished a bit over 33min, while Zin's time was 20min and change. He finished second in his age group, while I finished third, despite running my slowest 5k race, ever. Now that was a surprise. Where were all 35-39 year old women that day? I dunno, but I'll take it.

And that's it, folks! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Took my son back home as planned while Zin stayed to collect his medal. Then I went out to run the remaining 11k with my friend Wendy who came to keep me company. It was such a wonderful day, I wish it stayed like that forever. 

One thing for sure, we'll run this race again next year!

We own Muskoka!

Last weekend our triathlon club the Fletcher's Meadow Cross Trainers (FMCT) organized the annual Muskoka training weekend and we decided to join in the fun. It was the perfect occasion to get out of the city and have the kids spend two days outdoors instead of glued to their favorite electronics screens. As for us, we were really eager to ride the Muskoka 70.3 bike course to see how deadly it was going to be on race day. The Ironman Muskoka 70.3 is notorious for its hills and what better way for taming the beast other than jumping on it and riding on its back?

We left Brampton on Friday evening a bit after 7pm and after an uneventful 2h drive, we arrived at Clyffe House in Port Sydney where the White Cottage was waiting for us, with the heat and lights turned on, thank goodness because it was so COLD! Brrrr.

The White Cottage

The rest of the FMCT members and their families were all scattered across the cottages on the property, so we didn't get to see many people that night. I checked in with the organizer though and learned that the majority of people were planning a 120km ride the next day, and that sounded pretty frightening to me. 94km of the Muskoka 70.3 loop was already more than I was prepared for, so I decided not to join them and stick with our original plan instead.

The next morning I did see them all bundled up and ready to go, shortly after 9am. The air was chilly and crisp and I went to check out their outfits in order to reassure myself that I had enough layers on so I don't freeze to death. Just before they left, I took the picture below so we can play "Spot the Crazies".

FMCT biking squad

We decided on two layers top and bottom, including a buff under the helmet. Zin and I left the cottage shortly after 10am and went to Deerhurst Resort where the official start of the loop was waiting for us. Upon arriving on Deerhurst Rd, we saw lots of cyclists turning on Canal Rd and asked ourselves what the occasion was. It definitely looked like an organized race since it was marshaled and protected by the police. Later on we found out that we had just run into the Spin the Lakes Cycle Tour (and missed Marlene who was doing the 110k loop!) but that leaving the cottage so late in the day was actually the best decision that we could have made as it kept us away from the race mayhem. I get very nervous when I ride in a group, so it was definitely for the better.

We started our ride just after 11am and we barely met a soul the whole day. The hills never gave us a break. We pushed and pushed and we took pictures and we laughed, and cried and grunted and gave ourselves pep talks to forget the pain in the crotch, shoulders, arms and legs. Zin often would ride ahead of me and then wait for me to catch up. It was ok, I knew he wasn't far and I was reassured not to find him splattered on the asphalt. I did the stretches on Hwy 35 and Hwy 117 entirely in aero, they were not very technical, but the rest of the ride was tricky and not only because of the constant up and downs, but also because of the poor conditions of the roads. They should definitely pave them sooner or later, some stretches like Dwight Beach Road is even dangerous. We made only one stop in Dorset to refill our water bottles and use the bathroom and 4h later, we arrived back to Deerhurst Resort where I collapsed, happy to have completed my mission, but totally defeated. I could not fathom running a half marathon after that, my legs were like Jello. I spent 5 good minutes laying on my back, looking at the trees above me and wondering what I've gotten myself into. Thankfully I snapped out of it quickly and reassured myself that there are 3 more months of hill training and bricks. I felt really proud for not walking my bike up any hills and never dismounting unless I had to put back my chain, which managed to fall twice, how rude. All in all, a very successful day. Here's how it looked in pictures.

Back when the ride was still beautiful

Wheee, this is so much fun!!

Look, ma, no hands!

Aero Riri racing the cars

One more hill done, 99 to go!

4h later... This isn't fun anymore!!

The End

When can we do it again?? The answer is next month! We're already planning another weekend of 94km of hills for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and hopefully we can see some improvement after setting the baseline for this sufferfest. Maybe we'll even run a 10k off the bike. Who knows how adventurous we'll be by then?

So anyway, until then, let's continue with this weekend's recap. We went back to the cottage where we took a shower and cooked some BBQ dinner and made sure that our kids were still alive and well. They had finished all chocolate bars and candy while playing tennis and baseball, but thankfully they were not hyper at all. After ingesting enough food so I could stay upright without assistance, I decided to take an "ice bath" in the cold waters of Mary Lake. What a letdown that was!! As soon as I stepped in the water, it was clear that I was cheated, the water was definitely not cold enough, even though it was rough.

Looks cold enough, right?

This lake is sure wet!

That's how far in the water I went, but I found no numbness in my legs.

Back to the cottage after 20 minutes of counting the waves, I put on dry clothes and joined hubbs and the boys in a Smores fiesta by the fire pit. So much fluffy goodness in them, I had to have two! Then we all went to bed, hoping that the night would not bring any handicapping pain to sideline us on the next day.

And oh THE MIRACLE, next morning there were no aches anywhere (someone has to explain this to me as I write this 4 days later it's still the case and I haven't stopped working out). Just before bed I emailed my coach and asked him what the plan was for Sunday. Candidly he said, do 30km bike easy and a 10k run. Say what?! Okay... so there we go again. Most of the FMCT folks went biking again too, but the plan was to go for coffee 28km away in Baysville, which meant more kms than I needed on my odometer that day. I recruited Lorraine, another tri friend from FMCT who also wasn't really looking at biking that long, but she said that she wouldn't mind doing some shorter distances with me.

So our trio went on an out and back, slower to make it "easy" since there was no way to flatten the  landscape. Time went by so fast, in less than 90min we were starting our run. Plan was to go  "downtown" Port Sydney and have coffee and a scoop of famous Kawarthas ice cream, then see how the legs feel and decide whether to continue or not.

Looks familiar? This time on foot!

Crossing the dam. Don't look down!

I looked, and it was terrifying

Much better from far away

Kawarthas Ice Cream lives here

Muskoka Mocha and a very excited Riri

And there you have it. I ended up running the 10k without getting lost or eaten by a bear. I saw lots of deer though, it was really cool.

I can't wait to go back!! We had such an amazing weekend, a bit on the chilly side, so we didn't swim, but if the water wasn't so rough, I may have just put on my wetsuit and gone in regardless. I made it halfway, didn't I? Ha! I think I'm ready to start this triathlon season!