Hey guys!! How's life?? I can barely remember what mine looked like a few months ago when I was out of job and I could sleep in and train at random times... Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, but the new workplace does know how to put the word "crazy" in your day. Just when I was planning to write an update for you all, I had to start working shifts (temporarily) and all my free time went out of the window. I could only fit in my workouts and then, not even all of them. Given that I have been spending at least 10h daily in the office, workouts shifted to very early mornings or late nights. Sunrises are definitely my new thing.
I am not even sure how many hours of swimming, biking and running I've done lately, but who cares, let's say plenty. Among the most memorable times, a 100k ride on the hills of Caledon with hubbs and our friend Orville. We got up at 5am just in time to see the beautiful sunset from the first picture above, then we biked north into Hockley Valley, then east to Orangeville, then south on Mississauga Road through Belfountain. We chose to head back west on the scenic Forks of the Credit which led us straight to Hwy 10 where we had no choice but hang on our handlebars for our dear life while competing for speed with the cars zooming by us (not recommended, but we didn't know that Mc Laughlin Rd was not paved in that area and we were not ready to add 10k and one insane hill to our ride by going back to Mississauga Rd).
Made it back home in one piece, but then we had to go out for more. The longest brick of the year so far and it called for an 8k run off the bike. I quickly said goodbye to Orville, put my sneakers on, then ran. I was really surprised to see how easy that felt and I swear, I'm not on steroids. Those hard speed sessions on the track are definitely paying off. I averaged 5:45/km and that for me, was quite monumental, especially after 100k in the saddle.
With a little drizzle to cool me off, this day ended being one amazing milestone on the map of my journey towards the Ironman.
The following week, so just this past Wednesday, I had more speedwork on my schedule. The weather gurus called for rain, so the group workout was cancelled, but since the coach gave us the workout description anyway, we said what the hell, let's do it. And hell it was. Yassos ring a bell to any of you?
That's short for 800m repeats with enough rest time in between to get the heart rate under 100bpm. For me, that was going to be 2 min. So hubbs and I headed to the track nearby, exactly a mile away and by the time we got there, the rain was in full force. My capris and shoes were already soaked and were feeling heavy. I started the repeats and was surprised by the 3:55 repeat time, which again was faster than I expected, even though I was feeling tired. I knew I was running with horrible form too, but somehow that was working for me. I did 6 repeats, then tried to run with good form and my time got worse. 4:03. That was a significant slowdown, so I returned to my old bad form and voila, 3:55 for the last round (what was that all about? Another mystery that's going to torture my OCD brain). I never thought these would hurt so much, but they did. Two thumbs up for embracing the suck!
So according to Bart Yasso, if you manage to do 10 repeats, you could extrapolate your repeat time to estimate your marathon time. I only did 8, but I could have probably done two more. Does that mean I can run a 3h55 marathon? Yeah, riiiight. Moving on...
Another memorable time was my return to the pool for an actual workout, not just swimming long with a pull buoy between my legs. I even brought my fins and my board and did drills and kicks and all the the serious shit that makes you chase that clock with funny numbers and colored arms on the wall. No pictures for proof, but it's in Training Peaks, Garmin Connect and Runkeeper.
On Thursday, the open water swim got cancelled because of high counts of bacteria, but I was too tired after work to be willing to drag my ass to the pool again. I managed to end the day on a positive note anyway, as I made it from work just on time to pick up a package from the Post Office. In it, the SOAS tri kit that I ordered online after TriSports published a 25% coupon on Twitter. I was pretty upset that I could not find those kits in Canada, that I jumped on the opportunity right away. Alas only L, XL and XS sizes were available, so I went with the L and prayed that it would fit. It's not skintight, so I could have definitely fit in an M. Oh well, next time, maybe. These kits scream quality and they feel really nice on the skin, so I finally understand why there is so much hype around them.
I will still need to double bag the girls though. The curse of the C cup, of course. Thankfully I just bought a ShockAbsorber bra in white with a grey line at the top and it looks like it was made for it. At the back, not so much, but what else can I do? Even though it's for Muskoka, I can't wait to start wearing it because nothing new on race day, right?
Ok, enough with this post. I rather finish it on a smile, because I have a few more posts in the queue and they're not all so cheerful. Long weekend and all, I may even blog again tomorrow. Two in two days, now that's progress!
