Longest Ride To-Date

My race is just weeks away (July 22) and in order to mentally prepare for the bike portion of the race Jeff and I went for a 74K ride today.  We parked at Westside Church (great parking spot for bikers) then rode to Bragg Creek.  Great ride, hard and we were tired when we were done.

Upated June 12th

June 10 - Wasa Olympic Tri
First Olympic Tri - due to cold weather the swim of 1500 metres was dropped to 750 metres. Total time for 750M swim/40K ride/10K run was 3:19.  Great day, easier than doing a 1/2 marathon.

June 19 - Chinook Olympic Tri
July  22 - Sylvan Lake Half Ironman

Frist Open Water Swim

This evening I did my first open water swim and oh boy what an experience.

Beside a wet suit you will need the following items:

• Gloves to pull and yank the wet suit.
• Plastic bag for your fee.
• Body glide or other form of - you will get chaffing from the wet suit especially around the neck.
• Large plastic bag to put your wet suit in for afterwards (I use a garbage bag it worked well).
• Ear plugs - some people get nausea when their ears get cold water in them.  I did not have this issue.

When I first got into the lake (Arburn Bay) it was a little cold.  First I dunked myself into the water and was very surprised that the suit insulated me so well.  Then, I started my warm-up  .It took about 1/2 hour for me to get use to swimming in the lake, I hyperventilated a few times but after I calmed down I just started swimming just like I was in a pooland my body just got into the routine.

After an hour it was hard to get out of the lake but not has hard to as it was to get out of the wet suit.  Apparantly "I'll learn" so that brought me some comfort.

First Ride of the Season

My day today consisted of a 2 hour run at Nose Hill Park @ 8:30 a.m., came home for lunch then out again for the first out door ride of the season. 45K in 2 hours - got sun burnt!  What a great ride.

4 Hour Bike Ride

Well thought I better get it out of the way, so today with the group I train with we did a 4 hour indoor bike ride. Needed to know what it felt like for my 1/2 Ironman, so now I know, its hard!

Happy Easter

Had myself a little creme egg today...even tri athletes crave a bit a chocolate now and again.

July 22nd is coming up fast.

Pretty soon we will be riding outside which I can't wait for, I am getting really bored trianing indoors on the bike.

So far my favorite sport is the swimming, I still need more work on this sport but it is relaxing and I keep improving. Second would be biking, when we start riding outside and then running.

The long weekend is coming up so I am crossing my fingers for nice weather.

The Love Is Coming Back

So the love is slowing coming back.

What has changed?


Well I got some sleep zzzzzzz, talked to my coach and have given up my strength classes on Tuesday nights. I think the class was draining me of my energy for the rest of the week, so instead of strength I will do an extra brick class.


So far I am not as tired as I normally am, so cross your fingers.

Not Feeling The Love

I suppose at some point I knew this would happen.

I am guessing it happens to a lot of us who train, train and train (now for six months), at some point we just don't feel the love. Do you know what I mean?

Coach says to just take a few days off, refocus and the love will come back. So just becoming friends with my sofa again, spending time with the hubbie and waiting for the love to come back.

If you find it will you please send it back to me.

All I have to say in this post is, when I started this "ironman" adventure I weighed 159 pounds. To-date I weigh 149 pounds and can now fit into a size 8!

Ladies you know why I am exicted!

Breakthrough in Swimming

Finally, after months and months of swimming back and forth it finally hit me last night. I am learning a nw swimming technique - TI swimming is more for long distance swimming which is relaxed and easier on your body.

I was doing laps last night atTI swim club, looked up and my coach said "good job Maria you got it"! My head was down, my butt was up, heels touching the surface and stroke was long. I glided from one end of the pool to the other and reduced my stroke count by 7 strokes.

I now feel like I am actaully going to pull this half ironman thing off, but really was there any doubt?

IFM = Ironman for Mortals

Feeling pretty good about myself these days. Back on track with my IFM training, not sick anymore and have to-date have lost 10 pounds (so much lighter which makes training easier).

I was at a 1/2 marathon clinic this evening catching up with some friends I have not seen in a while and the guest speaker, Two Tall Dave, was talking about goal setting and motivation. During his talk he asked people what motivates/inspires us, he asked me directly and I did not have to even think about it, my answer was "ME".

Some may say this seems a bit self centered, but honestly I can talk myself into most anything, because I know I can do it. I am training for my first 1/2 Ironman for goodness sake and already have myself convinced I can do a full Ironman NEXT YEAR, I all I said was "hey you can do it!"

Now don't get me wrong, I could not always motivate myself the way I do these days. In the past I used such tools as, music, poems, quotes and friends. But these days I just know with all I have done in these last 7 years since I got off my sofa and started running that I can do most anything I set my mind to.....and so can you!

Aloha!

Just got back from a weeks vacation on the Big Island - Hawaii.

My sweetie and I took our road bikes and did many KM's on the island (including part of the Ironman route - wow!). You need to be sure you know how to change your tire if your biking on the Big Island, the roads are not that clear, tons of debris and we managed to get a flat while we were biking the Ironman route.

Did a few runs while I was there - one thru an old lava field which was pretty incredible (see photo).

Our last night there we watched the sunset on Alii Drive (you guessed it - where the Ironman starts and finishes - see photo). I saw where they start the swim, the bike and where they finish the run. A local there told me that regular people can do the Kona Ironman, if they want to pay a larger entry fee of $1000.00, so over several glasses of wine my sweetie and I decided that I would try, in 2015 to enter the Kona Ironman (yahoo!!). For now I have been given the go ahead to sign up for the Pentiction Ironman in 2013-2014. This is a big deal - I can't believe I got the ok from my other half!

Another Goofy Done

I am back from Orlando where the 2012 Goofy was held this past weekend. Most of you are familiar with the small gang of us who have been training for the Goofy for the past 7 months, finally the day came when we had to put that training to the test. We arrived last Thursday in Orlando ready to run but first we had to pickup our race packages at the World Wide of Sports a large complex at Disney World and a very busy one. The expo provided was a really good but so busy that getting around was difficult and if you did not like enclosed spaces and large crowds you were in trouble.

That evening we ate our dinner early and prepared ourselves for our event that weekend.

Saturday Morning - Donald Duck 1/2 Marathon (Approx. 16,500 people)

We had to get up to catch the 3:15 a.m. bus to Epcot Centre where we gathered in a holding area (concrete) until it was time to start the race. Once we were given the go ahead, we walked about 1 km to the start line which took a good 1/2 hour or more where we all got into our corrals (I was in H last one) everyone else was in a corral ahead of me.

The race for me started at about 6:30 a.m. and I ran this one by myself. I kept my throw away clothes on for about 5K as it was really cold that early in the morning. The race course was flat and took us thru the Magic Kingdom where we had a chance to run thru Sleeping Beauty's castle and stop for photos with various characters.

I ran using my heart rate monitor so my pace was pretty slow, but that was ok cause I did not wish to run the half marathon fast if I had to run the full the next day. It was a tougher half than most due to the amount of walkers and congestion on this run. You were always weaving in and out of people.

There was plenty of entertainment along the half marathon route but I made the mistake of keeping my music on the whole route so I missed some of it. There were tons of spectators along the route right up to the finish line. Once I got the finish line I took out my head phones so I could hear the cheering crowds, I looked for my special cheerleader (my hubbie) and sure enough there he was in the stands waiting for me. It is always a great feeling to cross that finish line with him cheering me on!

I finished the half marathon in about 3:10 and was glad it was over. However, I have to admit that when Jeff found me with me with my friends I confided to him that I was not looking forward to doing the full the next day.

Sunday Morning - Mickey Mouse Marathon (Approx. 11,000 people)

Got up at 2:45 a.m. again for the marathon, wasn't nervous or excited just knew I had to get it done and over with and I also knew I had done it before so for sure I could do it. Again we were held in the holding area and then did the 1k walk to the start line. I was in corral H but snuck into corral G so I could start with everyone. It was not as cold as it was Saturday so a little more bearable waiting to start. The American National Anthem was sung then a moment later our group starting belting out Oh Canada - it felt good.

About 15 minutes went by and the next thing you know we were underway. My legs felt pretty good, mind was clear and I knew I had made the right choice and was glad I was there.

The marathon was great, this time I did not listen to my music instead I paid attention to what was happening around me, music, characters, spectators, other runners, the road and my running buddy, Warren.

I was loving this marathon, I will not say it was easy but it certainly wasn't hard. Everything worked and nothing was shutting down. 21k came and went and I only had 21k more to do (I know only 21k more) but I had a great running buddy and we stuck together like glue (well except for the 4k that i lost him when he went to the washroom, but we found each other).

At about 41k Warren and I decided to walk 1k then run the rest in. Once we hit Epcot we started running and the next thing we knew there was the finish line. Again I looked into the stands for my special cheer leader and there he way waving his hat waiting for me. I crossed the finish line holding Warren's hand and that was that - another Goofy under my belt.

Our group was waiting for us when we were done and had received our medals (yes I said medals - 3 of them) and then we went back to the finish line to cheer in one more of our team before we went back to the hotel for some rest before our celebration dinner that evening.

So, you ask will I do it again. Well I said that this would be my last marathon but on the plane home one of my co-runners suggested the Niagara Falls Marathon...my hubbie looked at me and said "so it starts".

Am now back home, tired, sick and have to work in the morning. I am glad marathon training, I'll miss running with my buds but I am looking forward to putting 100% into iron man training.

Wish Me Luck

This weekend I am running Goofy, this is goal #1 for 2012.

This will be the 2nd time I have done this race, hoping to do a bit better than last time, but I'll just be happy to finish and get those wonderful medals (yes medals you get three of them). I plan on doing my race running with my heart rate monitor on so when it beeps, and it will beep, I'll be slowing down.

I am pretty relaxed about this race, to be honest I am just happy the training is over and the race is here. I always dislike training for a marathon - seems so long. But no longer! Race day is just around the corner.

So, wish me luck.

Merry Christmas

Just realized that my last post was Dec 10th and tomorrow is Christmas Day. I have been keeping up my training for my ironman but could do better, so today I hopped on my biked and did a ride while watching Jumaji on the T.V.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and I am at my goal weight (I think) that I wanted to be at for Christmas - 150 pounds. Once the day is over I have two weeks to lose 2 pounds to get to my 148 goal weight for Goofy (race in Florida Jan 8 & 9).

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all happy Christmas. Love Maria

Feel A Little Lighter These Days

Rejoice!! I started my training at 158 pounds, goal weight 140, current weight....wait for it.....150! So I am def. feeling a little lighter these days. I'd like to be 148 before I run Goofy in January, 2012.

Overall my eating habits have changed (less carbs, more protien - lots of nuts and Greek Yogurt which is really high in protein) but the decrease in my weight may also have something to do with my training (you can't not lose weight if your training 6 days a week).

I have, however, had this week off work - been sick. Just could not get enough sleep this week, most nights was having a nap before dinner, bad head cold and just plan dragging myself around. It was tough cause we went out twice this week (once for a work shopping event which could not be missed and then to the hockey game which my hubbie was looking forward to - would have just loved to have gone home to bed instead).

Coach said to be careful as the signs of over training is getting sick. Will see how it goes, if I get sick again you can bet I'll be taking it a bit easier. But for now I am running 32K tomorrow, I have my fingers crossed I'll be running on clear pavement and that it will be warm.

Cheers and Happy Holidays

Snow Day

I have never been a a fan of snow...and while the weather today was warmer than I expected the snow really had an impact on my 27K run, which turned out to be 15K that was really hard due to the deepness of the snow and how slippy it was. I keep losing my footing, my breathing was off and my pace was slower than normal.

I can run a 1/2 marathon in 2:30 and today it took my 2:30 to run 15K - what is up with that?

I am at home now watching some awful moving about Nazi's who have gargoyles that have come to life and they are using them to fight the Americans in WWII...my feet are defrosting and my laundry has just beeped...I can't be bothered to go downstairs just yet to get it as I am tired.

IFM (Ironman For Mortals) training is in its 7th week and I am still liking it but I do get tired more often. My typical week looks like this:

Monday - Swim or Run (5K) - but easy
Tuesday - Run 5K and do a Strength Class
Wednesday - Run 5K and Swim Class
Thursday - Brick Session (Bike for 1 hour and run for 40 minutes)
Friday - Run 5K
Saturday - Spin Class and then if I don't have IFM class that day a swim
Sunday - LSD with the goofies

Weight lost to-date 4 pounds but I go according to Melissa's scale today 8 pounds (can't be that lucky).

Merry Christmas

Getting Back On Track

Well, took what seemed like a break and now I am getting back on track. I don't wish to take a break again.

My Mother Is A School Teacher

Just did my training in Creston, 40 minutes in the rain ugh...it was cold.

Then I got home and showed my mother my blog, she proceeded to tell me I had a grammatical error in my title, which I have since change!

Once a school teacher, always a school teacher!