National Lazy but Motivational Day

Did you know that today is National Lazy Day? I had no clue until about a minute ago when I saw it trending on Twitter. Since I have been feeling pretty lazy lately, it gave me enough motivation to write a blog post. Not sure how that worked, but whatever.


Actually I am not even sure it was laziness to write a blog post, since this one has been circling inside my brain for over a week, but in other areas such as indoor cycling, for sure. I cannot fathom going on the trainer these days, and yes - that IS pure laziness. As to the blog post... well, every once in a while I find myself boring.

I came back from Kingston, it was still the weekend, a long one that is thanks to Canada's Civic Holiday. As a good group leader, I organized 2 club social rides last week. One on Monday because there seemed to be a lot of interest and I don't turn down an occasion to ride outside, especially when I don't go to work, and another one on Saturday. Both between 60-70km, with a coffee/treats stop in the middle. They turned out awesome and I could not have been happier for the company and the exhilarating moments zooming up and down our countryside's roads. And the treats delivered too!

Nobody gets left behind

Butter tart and fancy mocha for the win!

I don't remember doing anything special on Tuesday/Wednesday of last week, other than a lot of walking and Pokehunting. On Thursday I returned to Professor's Lake for our weekly OWS practice. I did 2 x 750m blissful loops, and had a great time in the water, as usual. I am already starting to think about the dreadful pool workouts and how I am going to skip those again coming winter time. Following the swim, I ran around the lake but it was super hot again and gave up after 5km because of stomach cramps. On Sunday I went to the C3 Quarry and did two more loops there for 2.2km total, and tried pushing myself a little, just to stay ahead of a breast stroker who almost made me give up freestroke because she was putting me to shame.

And that's it for last week. Took it easy, spent time with my peeps, went to our club workouts... boring, right? And so I wonder... do you guys really care? Do you mind reading about the same type of workouts week after week? I mean, I have no big goals, I am not smashing any records, my life is pretty ordinary with a family, a cat and a full time job. Sure, my hubby is training for an Ironman, but I am not talking about his workouts. Do you care about all the pictures that I post? Do I post too many of those? Is my smile driving you crazy? Jeez, I dunno... I mostly write for myself, my friends, my family... and 5 other readers who comment every once in a while. Should I care about building interaction? Should I care at all?? What are YOU looking for in my blog? Why don't you leave me a comment to let me know, so I can stop agonizing over this?

And now, for something just as boring, this week's workouts. My Taekwondo squad is back, and so are the daily classes, yay!! I am so proud of my school, I could burst. They brought back 12 medals from the ITF World Championships in UK. Below is a video with highlights from Day 1 and most podiums.


So now, with my belt grading being scheduled on August 27, I need to focus on Taekwondo training, especially since I'll be taking a week off for going to Mt Tremblant with hubbs. I already went back Monday and Tuesday and it was not pretty. Taking 10 days off sure brought the DOMS back. I was going to go again tonight, but an opportunity arose to go to the Blue Jays's game with my older son and I'm taking it!! It's been a while since we spent some time together, and these moments are increasingly rare these days. And that's all folks... short and sweet.

There won't be much tri training until the end of the month, but sure I will try to sneak in a swim, bike or run when I can. Life is all about the opportunities that we take... Here are two motivational videos that I discovered lately. They are wonderful.

A semblance of normality

Another week in the books and no boo boo to spoil the party. Now that's how you start a blog post! Where's my muscle emoji when I need it?

I went to Taekwondo on Tuesday and we did a 6.2km run at the beginning. I tried to stay on top of the leaderboard as the fastest of the group, but the instructor's son put on his 6'5" long legs and left me in his dust, after I beat him the week before. I ran like a maniac though, finishing the run in 34min 40sec, a 45 sec improvement over the previous run, but with the HR in the red, average 181. I pretty much do a speed workout every night I run there, reason why I try to limit the runs to 2 a week so I don't kill my legs, especially since I had little choice over the days I went training and they ended being back to back. Not good.

The next day I ran again, but thankfully only 4.5km. Then we worked on some sparring techniques - lots of high kicks. Not sure what was easier for the ribs - the power kicks we did the day before or the combination kicks during sparring training.  But I managed just fine, despite training with the black belts as they prepare for the ITF Taekwondo World Championships. Speaking of which... this is what ITF Taekwondo looks like.


And this is our school Miller's Taekwondo:


I still take painkillers at night because sleeping on the injured side is hard and I don't get my beauty sleep that helps me function like a human. Hopeful that by the end of the month the bruised ribs will be just a distant memory.

Thursday was OWS night at Professor's Like. A beauty of a swim... so different from the Sunday before. The lake was like glass, although on the chilly side. I helped a new member swim two loops, so it was full of zen. Bubbles bubbles breathe... Look, a pretty cloud and the sky is so blue! Where is that buoy again? I just got lost in my thoughts... as usual. I love open water swimming! Too bad I didn't give any of this love to the pool over the winter, but that's ok. I am not going to break any records this season anyway.

The week went by very fast and with the arrival of the weekend, the apprehension of the longest ride of the year, on the hottest day so far. My friend Sam from "Breaking my Runners In" is training for Muskoka 70.3 and she wanted to do a hilly 100km workout. Crazy as I am, I said yes to joining in the fun pain. Emma made us a route starting from Burlington, complete with a donut stop, 1000m of elevation and only 39 turns. I had to wonder if Emma was PMSing or something, because it delivered! I didn't count all the hills, but the motto quickly became "it ain't over till it's over". The meanest one was strategically placed at km 85, and the last one was just 500m before the finish. Thanks Emma!! What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

Don't be fooled by our smiles, this was after 45km ONLY.

TRS Team photo! (suck the belly in)

I think we climbed that thing in the back

The route was really beautiful though and it had a few awesome downhills too, good enough for some Strava PRs. I drank 4 bottles of water, 2 of Gatorade, had 2 gels and a fruit bar, plus a butter tart. I managed my nutrition pretty well for the conditions, just like in the good ol' days when workouts like these were the routine. The only thing missing were the salty balls, haha.
Oh wait... here they are.

Sorry, not sorry. 

We met with them boys just before the donut/butter tarts stop. Hubby is on the left. These guys were out for 170km in preparation for Ironman Mt Tremblant. They still had 100km left when we met them, and again... don't get fooled by the smiles. The sweaty and delirious ones at the end of the ride are just below.

I went back home and prepared lunch for the boys, then waited for hubbs to arrive from his own epic adventure. We barely had 1h to rest, then went out to one of TFC's soccer matches since we have a few season tickets. For once TFC won, against LA Galaxy nonetheless.

If we look a little pooped, it's totally normal. It was only after we got a cold drink in the shade that we perked up a little. We even compared tan lines. I definitely win.

He may have a nice caramel color, but I am a real cyclist.

The next morning I slept in. Oh, what a glorious sleep. Our cat didn't even bother me, but of course... Zin woke up early again, this time to run 28km (and it distracted the cat away from the bedroom). It sucks to be Ironman in training sometimes.

Another scorcher of a day, but I spent most of it inside, until I went out for another open water swim that is. This time, direction the Quarry where our friend Mellen joined us for some quality "mermaiding". Aren't we pretty?

Another season first, and a 2200m swim that woke up my ribs by the end. Little by little I am getting there... Not ready to do long triathlons any time soon, but I can do some long swims and bike rides, and survive short, fast runs.

Little did I know, the ride I did yesterday was a blessing. Just today I was asked to replace someone at Muskoka 70.3 for the bike segment of a relay and I said yes!! I was really bummed last year when I didn't get to play on that course, but this year I am taking every opportunity as a chance to remind myself that I am not completely broken and I can still do things. I may only ride my bike every 3 weeks, but at this point I know that I can survive the Muskoka hills. It won't be my fastest time on that course since I lost a lot of fitness (and packed on 10 pounds), but I plan on having as much fun as I can while keeping the #rubbersidedown. Since hubby is doing the race as well, I am going to have triple the fun: racing, catching people and cheering my friends across the finish line. Now that's going to be awesome. Stay tuned... first race of the season is next Saturday!

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.