Getting ready to climb, cut, tri all the things and rescue dummies

It's been a tough week for squeezing workouts in, but I finished better than I started, I guess. The first 3 days were busy with exams and outdoor school fun, but at the end of Wednesday I was finally done! I chose to study rather than do workouts because I really wanted to finish strong, and I did not regret my decision. Over the course of the week I found out that I won a bursary for being top student in the Plant Healthcare class, and an award for being the toughest female climber this year. To be honest, I was surprised by both (I didn't even know about the bursary until last week!) and I wanted to bask a little in my pride for making it to the top at the ripe age of 42. Maybe going through enough shit in life does make you more determined and combative after all.

We are the Arborist Nerds

So much Hi-Viz! (all the teachers and students from this year)

If you want to see more pictures from our "Humber Games" fun day, go here.

So the first day that I could really work out was Thursday. Sometime in the afternoon between Uber Eats deliveries, I jumped on the trainer and completed Mount Field in Trainer Road. It was pretty surreal to watch the big snowflakes falling outside the window, a day after the beautiful blue sky and spring like temperatures that you can see above.

The next day I went to the graduation ceremony in the morning, followed by a drive to Guelph to help a friend go to a job interview (3h round trip), followed by a drive downtown Toronto for celebratory drinks with my schoolmates. Needless to say, I only worked my clutch leg that day. 

Come Saturday though, the weather turned back to spring mode and I went outside for a run, in crops, tshirt and a light hoodie. Did another 4km loop, thankfully without pain, which gives me hope for my running season. I hope not to jinx it by talking about it here.

Then back home, the 8Fit app was bugging me to do a workout, so I fit that in before bed. Alas it had a lot of jumping/running on the spot and my feet reminded me the next day that I should have done these exercises in running shoes, not barefoot. I should have also put a bra on. Oh well.

And finally, on Sunday, tadaaa..... first 90m workout on the bike (Baxter) and 1500m of swimming in the pool. The biggest challenge of the day was to find a swimsuit that I could fit in, and after a few minutes of wrestling with one, I found reassurance that it won't burst at the seams while doing a flip turn (I didn't do any of those, just in case). Of course I forgot my Garmin at home and I cannot share any data, but you have to believe me that I spent enough time in the water to get goggle eyes, dry skin and everything. 

How`s this for proof

I have no idea what hubbs has in store for me next, but I know that on my rest day I should probably get rid of the 4 baskets of clothes that are waiting for me in the middle of the bedroom and before the end of the week, attempt to run a 5k. With another pool session or two, and maybe a ride outside too... Tuesday and Wednesday I will be in classroom again, renewing my First Aid Certification once again (because I let it expire and it`s kind of a big deal in this industry). Let`s see how much of a workout they put us through. I see a lot of chest compressions and breathing into rubber dummies in my future. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand... breathe! 

And then she blogged

I may be blogging every 6 months only, but any pulse is better than no pulse. In other words, I'm not dead yet! Or I may be coming back from the dead, you never know. Mmmm, brrraaaains!

The reason that I'm blogging again is because there are 90 days left before Ironman Mt. Tremblant 70.3, and since I signed up for it last year in a drunken stupor, and I am not planning on dropping out, I have to get my ass in gear and actually train for it.

Training... a strange word for sure. I don't quite remember what it means to train with a big goal in mind since I spent last year in sherpa mode while hubby was getting his full Ironman on. Little races sprinkled across the season are rather stress free, but this is year is going to be different, because I am not only signed up for one half Ironman, but two!! Last time I did one of those was in 2014... let's see if I remember what 10h of weekly workouts means.

I am starting slow though, because I AM slow and sluggish and I packed on too many pounds over the last 12 months. Let's not go there. Fact is, my fitness has taken a dive into the abyss while I concentrated on reaching the top of the trees. Speaking of which, I will be graduating with an Urban Arboriculture diploma from Humber College in 5 days. Who wants to hire me??

I also stopped going to Taekwondo at the end of last year because my working schedule at Swiss Chalet, combined with school, stress to find an arborist job and exhaustion from climbing trees did not make it possible to keep up with it, not in a manner that justified the monthly fee, especially on a student budget. So, while I am missing it like crazy, I felt that I had to make a choice and look at this year's priorities. When life settles down, I may be able to get back to it. Remind me to work on my patterns regularly, mmmmkay?

And that's it for the "life" updates. Let's get back to training, shall we? I asked my hubby to coach me this year because I trust his approach and he knows better than anyone what state of mind and physical shape I am in on a daily basis. He started me with a few bike rides and short runs and I am happy to report that I completed them all. The "official" start was a week ago and in this time I did the following:

Sunday: Trainer Road "Pettit -1" - 1h

Couples who sweat together are happy together

Monday: rest
Tuesday: Trainer Road "Goddard" - 1h (single leg drills and MVO2 and endurance spins, oh my!)
Wednesday: 4km run/walk (after a tough trial day in a tree) - 29min
Thursday: school practice day and meeting with old friends for beers
Friday: pruning job and single rope technique training

I think my butt is too big for this tree

Saturday: Training Road "Shasta" - 1h

Bruce and I spending quality time in the bat cave

Sunday : 4km run - 27min

Last but not least, I am also doing a few workouts here and there thanks to 8Fit. It's an iPhone app that made a fitness program based on my goals and I really love it. It gives me high intensity (HIIT) workouts less than 15 minutes as often as I feel like during the week plus Yoga and meal plans. For 80 bucks a year, it's packed with features and what I love the most about it is how it reminds me every day to get off the couch and move my butt.

I hope to be able to find time to blog again... the fact that I cancelled my Swiss Chalet shifts for this week must have helped for sure. Let's keep in touch and happy training!!

Excuses, excuses... and a new life ahead

There is a post in my drafts about the Barrelman Swim/Bike, another one about the Zoo Run 10K, yet here I am starting another one full of excuses instead. Life happened, again. About the same time last year I abandoned my blog, but for entirely different reasons. I was about to hit a concrete wall, quite literally. This time around, life is pretty full of awesome.

Fall is my favorite season. The smile says it all.

At the end of September, the Monday after Barrelman, I left my 16 yr long career in computer engineering to start a new adventure. I went back to school to become an arborist. I am in a two semester program at the Humber College that will give me a diploma in Urban Arboriculture sometime in April 2017.

Humber North Campus and the daily sunrise

To say that it is intense it is an understatement. We learn tree biology, how to identify over 50 trees, everything about safety in working at heights, operating a chainsaw, a chipper and other sharp and dangerous objects. We learn about tree diseases, fungi, how to identify failures in a tree and how to deal with hydro, wildlife, construction, root damage etc. And that's just the theory. We learn to make more than a dozen knots (blindfolded), how to climb a tree, walk on limbs, do aerial rescues, prune, fell trees, chip brush, set up our climbing system, use a lanyard and much more. For people with little upper body strength like me, every practice session is a full body workout. You can probably understand how much soreness and muscle tiredness I deal with on a daily basis. You may think it's an excuse, but I had weeks when I could not even hold my fork and knife at lunch to eat. Going to Taekwondo, swimming, biking or running was just too much physically.

Climbing trees has never been more exciting, especially when you do it safely.

Welcome to my classroom

Tree identification bouquet after a walk through the Arboretum

Then mid October I started not one job, but two. I work as a server at Swiss Chalet and Uber EATS driver, just so I can help Zin make ends meet. It hasn't been easy. I've been learning the value of money the hard way. When I earn 15 bucks from a delivery and then I spend 15 bucks on my lunch, I see exactly where the money is going. This is the kind of perspective that I didn't have before. But such is life, and it is quite humbling to go back to earning minimum wage. But aside from bringing enough money to help pay our bills, I have no other sources of stress, which is a huge step forward from what my life used to be. I spend 3 days a week outside climbing trees and cutting wood, then evenings making other people's day by bringing them food, be it at their table or at their door. I am actually having a lot of fun, in a new and challenging way, and I have zero regrets about leaving the corporate world behind.

Alas, working weekends and evenings also removed lots of opportunities for working out. I thought about going for a run today, but my last "excuse" is that I have also been sick for the past two weeks. I have been coughing, and coughing often and hard. Combined with the crisp, cold autumn air and my asthma, the cough has been relentless. After 10 days of Tylenol Cold and Sinus, I went to the doctor and begged for a Codeine cough syrup that should do the trick by knocking myself out for a few nights.

And these are the reasons why I stopped working out in the last month (my last run was on October 10) and concentrated on surviving my new arborist training days. I really hope to be able to get on top of this cold and at least go back to Taekwondo. I decided to wait for January to start my training for Ironman Mt Tremblant 70.3. Until then, I am going to concentrate on my next belt grading at the end of December and maybe, just maybe, being able to sneak in a run or two.

One thing that happened though and I almost forgot about, is that I attended another Taekwondo tournament and I didn't get my ribs broken this time, yeah! I ended getting silver in sparring and gold in patterns in my division. Besides, I got my Encyclopedia signed by the founder of Taekwondo's son, and president of the International Taekwondo Federation, Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa. A day full of win, indeed!

Two gigantic medals at a very special tournament

Humbled to have the Taekwondo Encyclopedia signed by the founder's son

And this is all I can share today, with the little time I have on my hands. School exams are going to occupy most of my free time going forward, aside from everything else that has to do with being an adult, like saving for our kids' college and paying our mortgage and taxes on time. Maybe I will find some time to write race reports, maybe I'll choose to take a nap instead. I honestly don't know. I am living so much in the present, I rather not make any ambitious plans. Right now, it's all about enjoying the special moments in the canopy like the one below.