Check this out!

I have had the pleasure of taking yoga classes for just over a year now at Fireflow Yoga!  And I really do love classes there!  Well...owner and yoga instructor, Jonathan, asked me if he could interview me about being an athlete and taking yoga classes.  I was honoured and below are two You Tube clips he put together of the interview and from a yoga class that I took.  He did a really good job if I may say so! ;) Thanks Jonathan!

On the "DL" list! :(

As in the MLB, I am officially on the "Disabled List"...which in my world means no running, and possibly no yoga! :(

I started the year with plantar fasciitis and a sprained ankle.  The ankle healed and I was getting treatments for the PF; which I am still getting treatments for just not as intense.  The foot is actually doing quite well and just flares up once in a while.  It really did not bother me this past race season.

Somewhere along the way, I developed a hamstring strain.  I remember feeling my right hamstring get tight in March during Oceanside but I thought nothing of it.  As the race season went on, my hamstring was getting worse.  Unfortunately, I put quite a bit of stress on it preparing for the Ironman and I think I destroyed it during the IM.  I continued to race and train for the remaining races I had for the season but really backed off on the run training.  I was running very little to give it as much rest as possible.  I got through my races, in pain, but I got through them with awesome results.  The pain got worse at the upper hamstring where my hamstring meets with my sit bones.  I got to the point that everything hurts - sitting, walking, swimming etc etc.  I was in constant pain. :(  I do have a high pain tolerance though so I was and am able to continue with my normal activities of daily living.  My chiro has been pretty awesome in treating me the whole time but I know I did not do myself any favours by continuing to race.  So after my last race (B2B) I was told to stop running and see if I can start healing.   I ended up getting an ultrasound to make sure there was not a complete tear in my hamstring.  The good news: no tear!  The bad news: my tendon on the injured side (right) is 50% thicker than the left with some calcium deposits.  Basically, tendinitis that is chronic.  Saw the doc and was basically told to not run because it would just prolong the healing.  Also, there may be a chance that I have a stress fracture but at this point he doesn't think so.  So, continue with the treatments and hope for the best.  I was hoping to begin some real training in January - I guess I will have to wait and see! :(

Not gonna lie, I am not liking this!

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

Since I am on the do not run list (more about that in another post soon), my off season training is right now limited to swimming and yoga.  In fact, swim and yoga are two of my favourite activities!  I haven't jumped on the bike trainer yet for any serious training, that will come soon though.  So, since I could not participate in the OMA XC meets this fall, I decided to try out an Ontario Masters Swimming meet, at the very last minute to boot!  So on Sunday, I headed to the Etobicoke Olympium with our coach and other swimmers from the University of Toronto Masters of the Universe swim club and swam in my very first swim meet ever!!!

I am not going to lie, I was very nervous heading into this meet.  My strongest sport in triathlon is swimming but I did not grow up as a swimmer.  I learned how to flip turn when I joined the club a few years ago and I really do not know how to dive off the diving blocks.  Many of the swimmers at these Masters meets are ex-varsity and ex-competitive swimmers and they are fast!  I did not know the rules for swim meets but because I was just sticking to free style I was safe! ;)  My biggest fear - losing my goggles during the dive starts! Lol!!!  I decided to swim the 100, 200, and 400m free as well as the 4x50m free relay!

The first event was the 100m free.  I am not a sprinter, I am a long distance swimmer so this was going to be hard!  I seeded myself at 1:30 knowing I could swim faster than that but wasn't expecting anything faster than 1:20.  The start gun went off and I dove in and swam as hard as I could for 100m.  This was an all out sprint for me and I definitely felt the lactic acid building up!  I swam it in 1:17:56 and I was ecstatic!!!!  That was the fastest I ever swam 100m!!!!  Woohoo!!!!  But I gave it my all and red-lined the whole thing.  I could barely get out of the pool and my legs were absolute jello!  Lol!  I could barely hold myself upright let alone walk!  Haha!  My teammates and coach were waiting for me to congratulate me and I was having a blast!  I was 5th in my age group and 2nd in the heat.

Next event was the 400m.  My biggest problem at swim practices is pacing.  I can pace running events but I have yet learned the art of pacing in swimming.  So when the gun went off, I started off too hard for the first 100m.  Then I tried to settle into a pace telling myself to slow down, slow down.  I led my heat for most of it until the end when I was losing gas.  Then I wasn't sure if I was on my last lap and actually held up a bit to see if the girl next to me was going to do another flip turn or finish.  Well, she finished so I tried to kick the last little bit to get back some time! Haha!  I swam a respectable 6:06:42!  I seeded myself at 6:15.  This was the fastest I ever swam a 400!  I was 4th in my age group and 2nd in the heat.

Now for the 4x50m relay.  I was swimming with ex-swimmers so I was swimming second! Lol!  I was given a quick tutorial on the rules and how-to of relays!  Again, an all out 50m is hard for me and I gave it my all.  I finished barely able to breathe or even see straight! Haha!  I swam my leg in 35:30 which I believe is the fastest I ever swam 50m.  We came 2nd in the relay in our age category and won our heat.

Our 4x50m relay team!

 After a little break was then my final event for the day.  The 200m free.  I had a blast racing this one.  I had the slowest seed time in my heat at 3:05 so I wasn't expecting to stay with the others.  However, I started off sprinting the first 100m and then found myself fighting to stay up there.  I think I was leading the first 100m, lol!  The girl next to me decided to do this event all fly.  As I was dying, she caught up to me and passed me.  With about 50m left I just put my head down and kicked with all my might!  I saw my coach at the side of the pool cheering me on since I had the outside lane!  So much fun!  Well, I managed to catch up and pass the girl next to me in the last 25m and won my heat! I swam the 200m in 2:53:55 which is for sure the fastest I ever swam this and came 3rd in my age group.  My coach was excited as he said it was fun to watch me lead, get passed, then fight back and out touch the other girl!  I even could hear the crowd cheer loudly!  I got out of the pool and was dizzy probably from the lack of oxygen! Haha!  I had to sit down and then I decided to jump in the pool for a little cool down.  I had no legs left, once again, they turned into jello!

Too bad I didn't grow up as a swimmer!  I think I could have actually done well.  I held my own being a non-swimmer and had so much fun!  Having a team and coach for sure helped too!  It was awesome getting cheered and cheering others on!  Of note, one of our team members is 75 years old and he did a 200m fly! If you have ever done fly you will know how hard this is!  He is absolutely amazing and an inspiration!!!  I still cannot do 200m fly!  Lol!  I am actually looking forward to the next masters event!  Oh...and I did not lose my goggles in any of the dive starts! Yay!  Much better than the warm ups when I lost them twice in four dives!

Members of TMU plus our coach (minus one swimmer!)

Two days later, and I am still sore! Lol!  I did not expect to feel so wiped out the night of the swim meet and to feel so sore! My shoulders and abs actually hurt! Haha!  I really did push myself to the limit but it was so worth it!

Beach 2 Battleship

 “Mind is everything; muscle, mere pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.”       - Paavo Nurmi

This quote was what I was banking on going into Beach 2 Battleship Half Ironman.  I wanted to PB at this race and I wanted to go under 5:30.  I was fully aware that this was an optimistic goal with how bad my hamstring has been.  But I was going to go for it and I was prepared to hurt for this.

Race Report

Beach2Battleship Half Ironman
Wilmington, North Carolina
Oct 20, 2012

The days leading up to the race were pretty uneventful.  I drove down with one of the Nacho's and we did the drive in one shot.  We arrived at our hotel which had complimentary breakfast AND fresh baked cookies at 5pm everyday!  We did the routine race check in, bike check in, short workout, and race meeting the day before the race.  Then we had dinner with the rest of the Nachos in their RV for some carb loading.  Race morning, I had some oatmeal, coffee, and Boost.

We drove to the site and parked in the race parking lot only to get completely disorientated in the dark.  We were parked less than a 5min walk to the transition area but for some reason we headed in the opposite direction and walked for about 20min before we realized we went the wrong way! Ha! That was a first!  Luckily we got their early enough that we had enough time to make the walk back and still did body marking, tire pumping, and getting the bike all prepped with nutrition and fluids.  Then we took a trolley ride to the swim start since the race was a point to point race except for the run.

the real battleship in Wilmington

Swim: 27:24 (2km)

The swim was in Wrightsville beach and it was in a channel so that meant swimming with the current.  Boy did I choose a year of fast swim times!  I was hoping for a sub 30min swim.  I was told it would probably be even faster.  I was in the sixth wave and  it was hard staying behind the start line as the current really was pushing us.  I swam backwards a few times to stay behind the line.  The gun went off and I started swimming hard trying to get out in front.  Not to far into the swim my Garmin strap broke off.  I took a chance swimming with it, it stayed on just fine on my training runs but I never did get it repaired after Savageman.  So before I lost it in the water I grabbed it and swam with my right hand holding onto my watch.  I was basically swimming one handed as I had my right hand in a fist.  After the first turn buoy, I was lost.  I really wasn't sure where the buoys were and where to go so I was following a group in front of me.  Then I lost them because I somehow made a wrong turn and was redirected by a lifeguard.  Oops!  Not until I saw the swim finish did I know exactly where to go.  And the swim felt long to me for some reason.  It felt like I was swimming forever.  I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the Garmin and it read 26 something min for the swim! Woohoo!  Yup, another fast swim but I was 12th in my age group.  Guess I made a few too many wrong turns!  Got out to the wetsuit strippers, then ran the half km or so to transition to meet up with Limey!  Nb: I had the fastest T1 time in my age group! ;)

run to T1

Bike: 2:47:38 (90km)

I got on the bike and was ready to giv'er!  I recently purchased a Quarq crank which means I can now race and train with power! I was very excited for that!  My powertap was just on my training wheel so when I raced I depended on feel and my heart rate.  Now I got real power for everything!  I had no power goal though so I just pushed.  I was expecting a pancake flat bike course and it wasn't quite that.  There were a few long steady hills but nothing Savageman-like.  The big thing was the head wind we were facing.  Most of the ride was a head or a cross wind since the ride was point to point.  I was doing a lot of passing during the ride and it felt good!  My legs were feeling it though and I knew I was gambling a bit for the run.  However, I also knew that I probably could not run as fast as I would like to so I took this chance.  I was happy with my time and I averaged 32.5km/hr and 189 Watts!  Woohoo!  My past goal watts was 160W so this is huge!  The ride was about 500m long but no big deal.  I did have the 5th fastest bike split in my age group which moved me to 5th! Another rare occasion of my bike split placing higher than my swim split!

hammering the bike

Run: 2:07:48 (21.1km)

Now for the run.  In the last 10km of the bike I took two extra strength Advils in preparation for a painful hammy on the run.  I started the run with great feeling running legs but an immediately painful hamstring.  I just told it to shut-up and to go away and I managed to ignore it for the most part.  Since I wasn't running with my Garmin which I left with my wetsuit I had no idea of my pace.  I knew I was running a pretty fast pace for the beginning and maybe it was too fast.  But I was hoping to bank some time since I was inevitably going to slow down.  Who knows, maybe if I paced it better I would have run a bit faster.  I just focused on a fast turnover and ignored the pain.  However, I did notice my gait was changed and I was completely compensating for the right leg.  But I was so focused that I did not let it bother me.  I somehow managed quite a bit of passing but I got passed as well.  The last 5km were a struggle as my left leg was cramping up quite a bit while my right leg was barely moving through.  I must have looked funny.  If the run was any longer I would have been in trouble as I was really cramping up in the finishing chute.  I ended up averaging just over a 6min/km.  One of my goals for the year was to run a half IM run in under 2hrs,  I'll have to wait til next year.  Oceanside was my closest attempt but I knew it was not going to happen today.  I had the 18th fastest run time in my age group.  Yick!

in the finishing chute - almost done!

Finish: 5:28:15  (6th place AG)

New Half Ironman PB!!!! Woohoo!!!! Soooo happy!!!!!  I managed to hold onto 6th place overall in my age group out of 59 finishers!!!!  I was 35th female out of 306 finishers.  I was barely able to walk afterwards with the pain but with time I was getting more mobile.  I am extremely happy with my last race of the season!  And again, surprised at how mentally strong I was out there and how focused I remained despite the pain.  Now for a long rest before the 2013 season and hopefully a fully recovered hammy!

Afterwards, we headed down to Charleston, South Carolina and surfed at Folly Beach.  Here is a group pic of the Nachos after our surf lesson:

SURFIN'!!!

I am in the process of writing a full race report for my final triathlon of 2012. I am super happy with my result and am super happy with my 2012 season!  Truly, I am ecstatic! In the meantime, I wanted to post a pic of a new sport I picked up this year - surfing! Lol!  Here is digital proof of my success of getting up on the board!  And not just once!  (or twice!) So much fun!  Too bad I don't live near surf-able waters!

Bah-hum-bug!

Is my attitude right now! Lol!  This is the first time I am letting an injury beat me up and I am not liking it!  I am in unfamiliar territory dealing with my hamstring and I am not having a lot of fun at the moment.  Last night was the first time I did not finish my workout due to my hamstring pain.  I have managed to push through the pain and complete what was planned, albeit slower but I would still finish it.  But not last night!  I was planning on running 8 x 600m on the track after taking 6 days off of running.  I ended at six!  And I was not even going all out or anything.  I could not even do strides without pain so I did not do them.  Then today after a 3hr ride I was planning on running 10km.  Nope!  Stopped just shy of 8km because I was just getting slower and in too much pain to push any harder.  This is not my first injury by any means.  I have had my fair share over the years but I have been pretty lucky at the same time.  The timing in my past injuries allowed me to rest it properly before training again or was really bad that I was forced to rest (not by choice) so I was able to heal.  But this hamstring is just not cooperating with me! ;)  I was going to write a post last week with the title of "Power of Mind Part II" where I was going to discuss how strong a negative mind can be.  My last three races were going to be my reference for this.  In both the olympic and half races at Savageman, I gave up on the run.  Particularly in the olympic, I just did not fight and push through.  In the half IM, I managed to fight in the second half of the run and I pulled it together well.  At the Taylor Creek 5km, I was holding a good pace but at about 3.5km in, I gave up and let up and ended up being slower than last year.  I was going to attribute it to being burnt out.  However, even though a negative mind does affect athletic performance, a broken body will too.  Maybe it was just my body trying to tell me to slow down to prevent more harm.  Or it could have been both, a crazy race schedule and a broken body!  I am burnt out both mentally and physically.  I even had a tough time on the bike today, I just wanted to turn around and go home.  Well, maybe the near zero temperature and strong headwind didn't help but I had no juice in me to push stronger.  I did finish the ride but was bummed with my performance.  And of course, I stubbornly refuse to pull out of any races! Ha!  One more to get through!  Next weekend, one last half IM!  At least I did not sign up for any more races as I was originally planning on running a fall marathon too!  Lol!  That will have to wait, not this year!

Road Trip!

Last week I did something I have always wanted to do!  Cross the border on my bike!!! :):):)

And guess what, this trip was not even my idea! Lol!  A friend wanted to ride to Buffalo to visit his brother and asked me to come along!  It definitely was a great ride!  We left Wednesday morning just after rush hour with the potential of hitting some rain.  It was a bit dodgy getting out of the city but we lucked out with the weather and never did get rained on! Woohoo!!!

Our route from TO to Buffalo - 191km

We kind of winged it in terms of a route to get there.  We both looked at maps and figured out a rough route.  Luckily, my friend memorized roads once we hit St.Catharines for us to get to the Niagara Parkway and eventually the Peace Bridge which was the bridge we needed to cross to get into the U.S.  

 Niagara Falls from the Canadian side

                                               Crossing the border using a separate entrance

Once we reached the bridge, I rode part of it and walked the rest of it as I wasn't a fan of huge trucks whizzing by me as I was on a narrow sidewalk.  We had a separate entrance to go through and it was pretty easy going.  No real questions were asked and it was smooth sailing!  Total ride was about 191km and took us about 7 1/2 hrs.  We stayed in Buffalo for two nights and stayed in a quaint little neighbourhood.  I really did have a nice stay there!  Then we made the return trip on Friday once the sun rose and tried out a different route.

 Buffalo to TO route (garmin died in Mississauaga)

The highlight of the trip was crossing the border back into Canada.  We got to use the car lane!  I always wanted to do that! Ha!  The border officer was very nice and really just chatted with us.  He did ask us if we made any purchases and if we had alcohol or cigarettes, lol!  The day was perfect for another long ride and we took about the same time to get back home.  We rode at a pretty good click though, just as fast as a training ride with minimal stops.  Getting back into TO was really sketchy as we hit rush hour traffic in the middle of downtown.  So once we got to my friend's place I waited rush hour out before I rode the rest of the way home.  The trip was a ton of fun with great company and a great ride!  Now I can officially say I crossed the border on my bike, we rode into another country, and we crossed the country from lake to lake - Lake Ontario to Lake Erie!  FUN!

                                                            Lake Ontario in Burlington