Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays etc etc etc! I am currently in Panorama with my hubby and kids as well as my sisters family. We had a wonderful and busy few days over Christmas and headed to the slopes on the 27th. Something happens to me when I come to Panorama! Here I am, in the mountains and fresh air, and should be motivated out the ying and yang to get some fresh air and ski, and run and play! Unfortunately that's not the way the world turns when I get to the top of the mountain!
I like to do nothing. Yup... you heard it... nothing, nada, sit on my butt and do... well... nothing! Christmas Day we went for a wonderful run at 8 in the morning. There were 5 of us with Pete, Toni, Dave, Ken and I. We did a nice easy 7k in the bitter cold, and it was a wonderful way to start the day! I was motivated and not willing to give a day of training away to the holiday season! (Fortunately my girls were at my sisters so it was easy for us to get out guilt free!) Boxing day, we were out for the cookie run with the Red Rock Running and Tri Club at Pete's house, then Ken and I did an outstanding ride in the afternoon. (Mine was outstanding with some really hard but wonderful intervals! Ken's was more of a spin, but I was still impressed he got on!) The 27th before I left for Pano I attended day 1 of the swim camp and did an epic 4750m swim! I've done it in the past for 3 or 4 days in a row, and while I was happy with the mileage, I was a bit disgruntled with how poorly my body handled the big swim. I was sore that night and quite thankful I wasn't able to attend the rest of the camp.
So... training, holidays, family, life... was all balanced until the 27th, the day we left for the mountains!
Since then, not much to talk about. Sunday was a complete rest day; I didn't even do core. Monday I did a 1:15 endurance ride plus core, and that felt good, and today I have speed work to do on the treadmill and a hard bike workout to do this afternoon. I only need to find the motivation to get off the couch to get both workouts accomplished! Of course, there is also skiing right outside my door, and I might try to fit a few runs in! We'll see.
So... what is the motto of this long and winded story. I often tell my athletes to let missed workouts go during the holiday season. We spend so much of our year putting our workouts on high priority in the balance of life, that friends and family can feel neglected. Training for triathlon, working, and spending time with your family can be challenging, and when we are putting in big volume training, building to our key races, it's often family time that falls down on the priority totem pole. I think it's important to recognize that. So, during the holidays, I support, encourage, rally my team to take time away from training when needed, "log" some precious hours with the people they love. It's good for the body and soul, and we have a whole year ahead of us to force those selfish moments when triathlon and running are almost all consuming.
So, have a glass of wine or a beer, and enjoy the season! We'll be back hard at it in January.
Happy Holiday!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Another 10k I wish was 10k!
So yesterday I hauled myself to the start line of the Jingle Bell run against my better judgment! I woke up tired and grumpy (hard to believe but true!) and had ZERO interest in running. I'd ate poorly all week and had spent 16 of the last 48 hours at volleyball tournaments with Ali. I did not want to run. You're probably asking yourself (if you are actually reading this) why did I go? Well, I have this thing. When I say I'm going to do something, I really really really like to get it done. Sometimes I don't get to the grocery store when promised, and I might miss a load of laundry that needs to be done, but for the most part, I complete tasks when expected. This race fell into the same category. Plus, I had a few athletes there and I knew it would look bad if the coach faked sick! Could I go to the pool at 1:00 for a swim when I called in sick and missed the race? I figured it wouldn't look good!
So, Doug picked me up at 7:45, and we met Leslie Ann who graciously had picked up my race package at the Red and White club at 8:30. As we warmed up and got ready to start I was acutely aware of my whining. "I don't feel like racing." "I'll wait till the gun goes then see how I feel." It was pathetic, and I can see that I play the same card a lot of other athletes play before a race... I'll state all the things wrong with me before the gun goes so I have an excuse if the race goes poorly! Oddly, I don't do this in a triathlon or even an Ironman for that matter. I guess that's where I'm more confident in my abilities.
So, the gun goes off and I start running. I'm in a pack with 3 other gals, and I'm at the back. I foolishly think I'll be able to hold on to them and maybe even more up a few places. I'm thinking they started too fast and will die; little did I know they were just warming up and had way more gas in the tank on the second lap! I did pass one just before the 5k turnoff but my little celebration was cut short when she actually took the 5k turn off! We weren't in the same race!
We had no km markers and I didn't have pace, so all I ran by was heart rate. My last 10k it came up, and then it dropped. I didn't have the legs to keep it in race zone in the last few k. This one went much better. I was able to hold 170+ (which is really high for me) from about 3 - 4k on, and I was happy with that. I thought I was executing well, and was excited that this race would confirm that the speed work I've been doing would pay off.
I could see the finish line... I looked at my watch... what! 39 minutes? There is no way! I would love to be a low 40 min 10k runner, but let's be realistic! I crossed the finish line in 41:56. Should I celebrate or should I cry because there is no way that was 10k! I did my usual Garmin check and people had between 8.85k and 9k on their GPS units. (I really need to get a battery for my foot pod.) I came home wanting desperately to confirm I ran a good race, and spent the next 4 hours on google pedometer measuring distance. I contemplated emailing the race organizer, but this was a charity fun run. What could I expect. They have better things to do I'm sure than tell me how far their race was; I supect the didn't know.
After many phone calls and oodles of time wasted I confirmed, in my only mind, that the race was 9.3km. That, corrected to a 10k distance put me at 45:04 and a 10k PR! It's not official, or on paper, but I'm going with it. I think I executed my race well for a change; that's a new thing for me in a 10k!
So, Doug picked me up at 7:45, and we met Leslie Ann who graciously had picked up my race package at the Red and White club at 8:30. As we warmed up and got ready to start I was acutely aware of my whining. "I don't feel like racing." "I'll wait till the gun goes then see how I feel." It was pathetic, and I can see that I play the same card a lot of other athletes play before a race... I'll state all the things wrong with me before the gun goes so I have an excuse if the race goes poorly! Oddly, I don't do this in a triathlon or even an Ironman for that matter. I guess that's where I'm more confident in my abilities.
So, the gun goes off and I start running. I'm in a pack with 3 other gals, and I'm at the back. I foolishly think I'll be able to hold on to them and maybe even more up a few places. I'm thinking they started too fast and will die; little did I know they were just warming up and had way more gas in the tank on the second lap! I did pass one just before the 5k turnoff but my little celebration was cut short when she actually took the 5k turn off! We weren't in the same race!
We had no km markers and I didn't have pace, so all I ran by was heart rate. My last 10k it came up, and then it dropped. I didn't have the legs to keep it in race zone in the last few k. This one went much better. I was able to hold 170+ (which is really high for me) from about 3 - 4k on, and I was happy with that. I thought I was executing well, and was excited that this race would confirm that the speed work I've been doing would pay off.
I could see the finish line... I looked at my watch... what! 39 minutes? There is no way! I would love to be a low 40 min 10k runner, but let's be realistic! I crossed the finish line in 41:56. Should I celebrate or should I cry because there is no way that was 10k! I did my usual Garmin check and people had between 8.85k and 9k on their GPS units. (I really need to get a battery for my foot pod.) I came home wanting desperately to confirm I ran a good race, and spent the next 4 hours on google pedometer measuring distance. I contemplated emailing the race organizer, but this was a charity fun run. What could I expect. They have better things to do I'm sure than tell me how far their race was; I supect the didn't know.
After many phone calls and oodles of time wasted I confirmed, in my only mind, that the race was 9.3km. That, corrected to a 10k distance put me at 45:04 and a 10k PR! It's not official, or on paper, but I'm going with it. I think I executed my race well for a change; that's a new thing for me in a 10k!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A steep learning curve...
Sometimes opportunities fall into you lap that you question you deserve and are certainly shocked to have. Luckily this one turned out to be extraordinarily positive.
These past 2 days I've spent at the Triathlon Canada meetings in Calgary. I was asked to attend because of my involvement in the development of the NCCP Community Course for triathlon. Walking into the meeting room 1 hour late was shocking to say the least! (I was late because Tracey (T) and Kristine (KK) were held up in Vancouver. Something about air conditioning on the plane or lack thereof!) So, we three gals joined a room full of what I consider to be the "who's who" of Canadian Triathlon.
Barry Sheply, Joel Filliol, Mark Bates, Patrick Kelly, Kurt Innes Olympic Cyclist, Larry McMahon the head of coaching development for Tri Can, Craig Taylor who knows so much and pretends to know nothing! On top of that I was again working with Kristine Chambers who has developed all the NCCP manuals and basically created Comp Intro from the bottom up. There were others too... several I didn't get the name of as I sat in the back like a fly on the wall, wanting to absorb every comment, every presentation, every moment. It was amazing just to be in the room.
What was the purpose for me being there? This was an opportunity for "T", "KK" and I to present the new community program we worked so hard to create, and to do revisions on the now 5 year old Comp Intro Coaching Program. So, even though I would have liked to stay in the room of the "Big Cheese" and listen to the Bejing debrief and numerous other discussions on High Performance Training and Racing in our country, I stayed on task and spent 2 very full days with KK and T.
In the end, our ideas for re-framing the current program to certify coaches in the Competition Stream for triathlon was accepted by the "Big Cheese" folks, and we had amazing brain storming sessions on the new plans for coach development which will be implemented across the country. On top of that, every conversation gleamed an ounce of learning. Today Kristine and Jim had a great discussion on physical literacy. On the way to the airport Glen gave us a 40 min run down on the thoughts of the group to capitalize on Simon's silver medal at Bejing and find the next great Canadian Triathlete to maybe take his place! Thank goodness for traffic... it lengthened the trip!
I am now headed to 4 days of learning and learning and learning at the Sport Leadership Conference in Calgary. I'm tired, and my brain is full, but I'm pretty excited too.
Off to bed... Thanks for reading!
These past 2 days I've spent at the Triathlon Canada meetings in Calgary. I was asked to attend because of my involvement in the development of the NCCP Community Course for triathlon. Walking into the meeting room 1 hour late was shocking to say the least! (I was late because Tracey (T) and Kristine (KK) were held up in Vancouver. Something about air conditioning on the plane or lack thereof!) So, we three gals joined a room full of what I consider to be the "who's who" of Canadian Triathlon.
Barry Sheply, Joel Filliol, Mark Bates, Patrick Kelly, Kurt Innes Olympic Cyclist, Larry McMahon the head of coaching development for Tri Can, Craig Taylor who knows so much and pretends to know nothing! On top of that I was again working with Kristine Chambers who has developed all the NCCP manuals and basically created Comp Intro from the bottom up. There were others too... several I didn't get the name of as I sat in the back like a fly on the wall, wanting to absorb every comment, every presentation, every moment. It was amazing just to be in the room.
What was the purpose for me being there? This was an opportunity for "T", "KK" and I to present the new community program we worked so hard to create, and to do revisions on the now 5 year old Comp Intro Coaching Program. So, even though I would have liked to stay in the room of the "Big Cheese" and listen to the Bejing debrief and numerous other discussions on High Performance Training and Racing in our country, I stayed on task and spent 2 very full days with KK and T.
In the end, our ideas for re-framing the current program to certify coaches in the Competition Stream for triathlon was accepted by the "Big Cheese" folks, and we had amazing brain storming sessions on the new plans for coach development which will be implemented across the country. On top of that, every conversation gleamed an ounce of learning. Today Kristine and Jim had a great discussion on physical literacy. On the way to the airport Glen gave us a 40 min run down on the thoughts of the group to capitalize on Simon's silver medal at Bejing and find the next great Canadian Triathlete to maybe take his place! Thank goodness for traffic... it lengthened the trip!
I am now headed to 4 days of learning and learning and learning at the Sport Leadership Conference in Calgary. I'm tired, and my brain is full, but I'm pretty excited too.
Off to bed... Thanks for reading!
Monday, October 27, 2008
10k's are hard!!
This is my first attempt at blogging so bear with me! I'm sure there's a learning curve to this cyberspace story telling thing!
I'm an endurance athlete. I like long and somewhat slow racing and training. I'm not used to pushing my aerobic limits in 10k's or sprint tri's although I do them occasionally.... so why on EARTH did I decide to do a 10k in October in my "off" season? Did I think I could PR or set the 10k world on fire? Was I motivated to test myself... prove that I'm not as challenged at this 10k pain thing as I believe I am?
I wish the above were true, but honestly, I did it because it was cheap. Yup... there it is. I ran a 10k cause it only cost $30! When is that last time you did a race that was under $100? It's been a while for me. I compared it to an ugly set of earrings that you buy, knowing full well you'll never wear them, but they are such a good deal you can't help yourself. I call that pathetic!
So, off to the race I go with my running mate Pete! He was good enough to come along for support. THANKS Pete! The great part was the Team Tri Life was well represented with Karen, Tracy, Kelly, Christine and me there. We arrived early, did the pre-race warm up and headed to the start line. It was a chilly but beautiful morning!
The first 2k felt great! I was running faster than I though I should but it felt good. I thought to myself "I can hold this... this is effortless". Mistake number 1! By the 3rd km things started to feel a bit less easy, and by 4k I was just working. HR was up and I was focused on the gals in front of me. There were 3 of them putting me in 4th place overall. I watched the race for first unfold between TTL athlete Tracy M. and a gal who hasn't done a 10k since 2002 but is a soccer player. They pushed and pulled for that first place spot until Tracy had to relenquish to Vicky, the fast moving little soccer gal. These were the places we held to the finish. I had the top 3 in site, thinking maybe, just maybe they'd falter, not really realizing the any faltering would come from me... not them! Pete and I ran the last 3k together and he talked me through. Of course, I had my headphones on and didn't hear most of what he said. At the 7k mark Tracy was about 30 seconds in front of me. I was happy with that. Hold on Angie! She claimed to slow down in the final stages of the race, but let me tell you... she didn't hold a candle to my "anchor out the back I'm dieing and want this torture to end" type slow down! In the last 3k she took another 30+ seconds out of me! I held on for 4th, but just barely as TTL athlete Karen was close behind. I wish I could say that if I'd known she was there I could have pushed a bit harder to hold my place. Luckily I didn't have to as she didn't quite catch up; I couldn't have gone one step harder!
At the finish line I did my ususal... "how far was that" to try to validate I wasn't as slow as I thought I was. The runner technology was all over the map. Some said 10.45k and some said 10.7k. I decided to settle on 10.5k and somewhat validated it with a trip to google pedometer.
The stupid thing was, I went into this race with no expecations. I wasn't 10k ready... I hadn't built to this race or done a proper taper, so what the heck was I expecting? It hurt... it's done... and as soon as I find another "cheap" one I'll probably sign up again.
What did I learn if I'm willing to pay to put myself through this torturous adventure in the not too distant future? Apparantely not much! Maybe next one won't hurt quite so much, and maybe it'll be a bit faster! I can dream anyway.
Congrats Tracey, Karen, Christine and Kelly for a job well done! Thanks Pete for slogging it out with me! I hope your foot is OK today.
Have a great day!
I'm an endurance athlete. I like long and somewhat slow racing and training. I'm not used to pushing my aerobic limits in 10k's or sprint tri's although I do them occasionally.... so why on EARTH did I decide to do a 10k in October in my "off" season? Did I think I could PR or set the 10k world on fire? Was I motivated to test myself... prove that I'm not as challenged at this 10k pain thing as I believe I am?
I wish the above were true, but honestly, I did it because it was cheap. Yup... there it is. I ran a 10k cause it only cost $30! When is that last time you did a race that was under $100? It's been a while for me. I compared it to an ugly set of earrings that you buy, knowing full well you'll never wear them, but they are such a good deal you can't help yourself. I call that pathetic!
So, off to the race I go with my running mate Pete! He was good enough to come along for support. THANKS Pete! The great part was the Team Tri Life was well represented with Karen, Tracy, Kelly, Christine and me there. We arrived early, did the pre-race warm up and headed to the start line. It was a chilly but beautiful morning!
The first 2k felt great! I was running faster than I though I should but it felt good. I thought to myself "I can hold this... this is effortless". Mistake number 1! By the 3rd km things started to feel a bit less easy, and by 4k I was just working. HR was up and I was focused on the gals in front of me. There were 3 of them putting me in 4th place overall. I watched the race for first unfold between TTL athlete Tracy M. and a gal who hasn't done a 10k since 2002 but is a soccer player. They pushed and pulled for that first place spot until Tracy had to relenquish to Vicky, the fast moving little soccer gal. These were the places we held to the finish. I had the top 3 in site, thinking maybe, just maybe they'd falter, not really realizing the any faltering would come from me... not them! Pete and I ran the last 3k together and he talked me through. Of course, I had my headphones on and didn't hear most of what he said. At the 7k mark Tracy was about 30 seconds in front of me. I was happy with that. Hold on Angie! She claimed to slow down in the final stages of the race, but let me tell you... she didn't hold a candle to my "anchor out the back I'm dieing and want this torture to end" type slow down! In the last 3k she took another 30+ seconds out of me! I held on for 4th, but just barely as TTL athlete Karen was close behind. I wish I could say that if I'd known she was there I could have pushed a bit harder to hold my place. Luckily I didn't have to as she didn't quite catch up; I couldn't have gone one step harder!
At the finish line I did my ususal... "how far was that" to try to validate I wasn't as slow as I thought I was. The runner technology was all over the map. Some said 10.45k and some said 10.7k. I decided to settle on 10.5k and somewhat validated it with a trip to google pedometer.
The stupid thing was, I went into this race with no expecations. I wasn't 10k ready... I hadn't built to this race or done a proper taper, so what the heck was I expecting? It hurt... it's done... and as soon as I find another "cheap" one I'll probably sign up again.
What did I learn if I'm willing to pay to put myself through this torturous adventure in the not too distant future? Apparantely not much! Maybe next one won't hurt quite so much, and maybe it'll be a bit faster! I can dream anyway.
Congrats Tracey, Karen, Christine and Kelly for a job well done! Thanks Pete for slogging it out with me! I hope your foot is OK today.
Have a great day!
Monday, October 20, 2008
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