Thursday, August 19, 2010

I survived another triathlon!!!

Yay Me! Yes, I survived the Strathmore Women's Only triathlon (www.leapingdogracing.com). I had hoped to finish between 110 and 120 minutes, and I came in 116 min, so I'm quite happy. I must say that the entire triathlon is extremely well organized and everyone is SO supportive, it was a fabulous experience, even given that I didn't know a soul. I did meet Jocelyn, who is hilarious, and did an amazing job at her first tri!

For race report, see my BT page: http://bit.ly/blkY60. I must say that the lack of training for the 2-3 weeks prior didn't help (thanks to the kitchen reno), the new bike DID help, and the lack of almost any running for 2 months prior (thanks, injuries!) did NOT help. I am going to focus on run and Brick for the next 2 weeks in preparation for my last race: the Banff Subaru Sprint (http://triseries.ca/banff/).

My fall goal is now to finish the kitchen and lose some weight this fall through eating right and training 4-5 days a week, plus strength and stretch to avoid injury!! Wish me luck with the open water swim in Banff!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Race Report a little late!

Did my first tri on May 23. It was a ton of fun! Had CJ, Julie and Remi, Carmen and Jo for moral support, and it was many of their first tris as well.
SWIM:
Swim was 500 m in Foothills pool - a rolling start that was a little disorganized - they didn't announce which waves were starting when but it wasn't too bad. I was passed by 3 in a group, but then passed one person myself. Max 4 in a lane, my time in the swim (included entry/exit of water but no transition) was 12:53, or 2:53 per 100 m. I felt kind of sluggish on first 4 laps, so not surprised it was a mite slow. No warmup didn't help. I was 187th out of the water (out of 314).

T1: Swam in tank top, bra and compression shorts. This worked well. Brought towel to pool, wrapped in in on way out. Sat and put on tights, socks and shoes. Removed tank and put on dry shirt, then jacket. No falling over - YAY!

BIKE:
Bike was 4 x 4 km laps around UofC, rolling hills and flats. Was quite chilly on first lap. Could have used gloves as it was only about 3-4 C. I could have pushed harder on the bike. I was not tired at all after the bike. Only problem was that my feet and left hand went completely to sleep. I was 279th after the bike, finishing it in 52:29 (this includes T1 and T2) for an average pace of 18.3 kph, quite slow.

T2: Very easy, just shoes off/on - speed laces rock! Handlebars on my PITA bike were a bit of a problem, as they stick out so far.

RUN: Run was 3.3 km, with 3 x 1 km loops, 1 hill down, 1 up. First km was hell due to sleeping feet. Ditched jacket with DH after first km. By the end of the 3 km, I felt that I could have done at least 1 more km. I was 287th after the run, with a time for 3.3 km of 25:53, or an average of 8:38 per km. By my Nike+ though, I was under 8 min per km. Pretty happy with the run.

I was expecting to take 90 mins for the tri, I did it in 91:14, so pretty much bang on! The after lunch at our house was SO much fun. And I was not too stiff on Monday, pretty much back to normal on Tuesday. Ready to get training for the next one! Strathmore Women's only, here we come!!!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Kickin' it!

At least on the exercise front - in the tri club, made the bike AND swim this week. Bike is getting SO much better - those threshold wattage workouts don't kill me as much. Of course the 30 pushups between speed sets just about did! I do need some cycle shorts/pants though, my butt is SO sore!

I killed my swim times on the 100 m and 50 m yesterday too! Base line 100 m was 2:20, improved to 2:05. Base line 50 m was 1:05, improved it to 0:55! Was an awesome swim! Now I gotta focus on the nutrition aspect - Need some plan that doesn't leave me starving on Friday afternoon at 4:00 and ready to eat anything (not healthy) in sight. Well, looking forward to a good run tomorrow and here's hoping sensei does not kill us too badly at karate tomorrow night - my pecs already ache!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A High-Intensity child and (not) managing...

Our DS is trying our patience lately. He is a high-intensity child, strong-willed, not good with change. I thought 7 would be easier, but it is harder than 6! We are getting to our wits' end some days with trying to get him to comply, and one can no longer pick him up and make him go when he says 'no'. Sigh. I hope this is simply a phase and we will grow out of it - all of us!

On the fitness front, I ran last Sunday, it was good, then went skating Monday (even better), but on Tuesday managed to badly turn my ankle in the kitchen, of all places! I can walk on it without pain now, but running on Thursday at the tri-club may be an issue. I had hoped to get to the gym and calibrate my Nike+ sensor this weekend, but I'm going to give it another few days to heal. Really brilliant move...

Trying to keep my head above water work-wise and get through January when I hope to have more time to focus on family and exercise and me for a while - what a change that would be! More soon...