SKIING!!!

I just spent this past weekend up north in Parry Sound with my second family!!! ;)  I really do love going there!!!  Thanks again!  And this time I didn't get sick, yay!  I basically go up for an awesome mini training camp in fresh air and get the best sleeps, usually about 8hrs worth, eat yummy food, and relax! :)

I arrived Friday afternoon and immediately was sent out to start skate skiing!  Sooooo much fun!!!  I have improved so much from last time and the hills that I barely made up my first time out were not so bad this time.  I am still slow out there but feel that I am getting the hang of it.  So I still have not had a day off from physical activity since I started training.  It has been more than 30 days now.  Not bad!  Although the last few days were cross training in the form of cross-country skiing and shinny hockey!  That's right!  I also got to skate and play hockey twice this weekend!  Friday night we went out to the local outdoor arena and the three of us had the rink to ourselves!  That was pretty sweet!  I even tried to do some figure skating things and was able to do all my single jumps.  I didn't have guts that night to try any doubles but with some more time I may have.  We did the same sort of thing on Saturday, did another 8km or so of skate skiing and then played shinny in the evening.  Sunday I managed about 12km of skiing!  That was tough!  More hills and a few more falls but I loved every single minute of it!  And I even spent some time with the Nachos watching the Superbowl that night.  Although I honestly have to say that football is not really my cup of tea.  I tried to get some of the rules and stuff but I don't find it that exciting.  I snuck in one more ski session this morning, about 5km worth and then I did an approx 8km run in the snow, cold, and ice.  Great way to end my weekend! 

I logged in a total of about 11.5hrs of training, skiing, and skating last week.  It was a little less in volume as I did my threshold test on Thursday before I left.  Basically I was to ride all out for 20min with the goal of not going too hard at the beginning and dying but to be consistent throughout.  It went well too!  I exceeded Ming's expectations! Haha!  He predicted an average power of about 180W.  I started a bit conservative and was building slowly within the 20min.  By the end I was giving it my all and I was hurting.  But a good hurt.  Ming told me to start at about 160W but I found I was easily holding 180-190W.  As the test went on I got stronger and stronger and I averaged 203W for the test with an average cadence of 92rpm!  Cadence is something I have been really working on as I tend to have a low cadence on the bike.  So 92 is really good for me! Yay!

Here are some pics from the weekend:

The snow is so pretty!

 

Me in action!





A masters ski race - Marianne is third in line on the far left in the above photo.





Snowmageddon, huh?!?

Well today was suppose to be this huge snowstorm in TO where they were calling for 30cm of blowing snow.  I was actually looking forward to it too...just too see lots of snow!  But it didn't happen.  We got about 15cm.  And so I went out for my run today before work and grabbed my camera (since I had an easy run scheduled) and took some shots.  Didn't get lots of nice ones as the sun was setting but it sure did look beautiful out there!

my backyard! ;) this is the cemetery behind my condo where I do a lot of my runs! it is actually very pretty and great for running!

On the training front, I have yet to have a day off from training since I started back at the beginning of January!  I put in another 13+ hrs last week.  And I am seeing some gains on the trainer as I am now able to increase my power output on the bike.  Tomorrow I am scheduled for a threshold test so I'll see how that goes.  I also joined the masters running group at UofT last week and really did have a good time!  I was actually intimidated by them for the longest time because I am not a fast runner but they were very welcoming, encouraging, and I wasn't the slowest runner either! ;)  So I think I will try to make it out every Thursday and run with them as long as I am not scheduled to work. (well, and as long as Ming has it in the plan!)

My race season is almost all confirmed.  I have now registered for the Montreal half marathon and the Chicago marathon!  This is in addition to the Chilly Half marathon, Ironman France, and Steelhead 70.3 that I have already registered for.  I just need to figure out exactly which half ironman I will be doing in May.  All the other races are pretty much set in stone, I just have to register for them as well.

I also may be heading back up to Parry Sound this weekend for some more skiing action!!! Yay!!!  Pretty excited about that! :)  Just hope the weather cooperates so I can safely make the trip!