is this thing on?

Just a quick test of my running route from Saturday to see if this works.  John told me how to embed the pic into my blog but this is the same "IT" guy that barely figured out how to put a counter in his blog. (hahaha)




No laughing at how slow I am.  On Saturday I actually ran alot more than i normally do atlhough my time never seems to get any better.   

Hi my name is John and I'm a.....

Last night I headed over to Millcroft Wellness and Fitness where Coach Nancy and Janicke were hosting the orientation meeting for the Musselman half iron training program.  About 16 people or so showed up to hear about the program and there were a few of the superstars from my Mommies in Motion group.  It was really nice to see the ladies, it's been a while since I'd seen some of them.   There was a guest appearance by none other than John and his awesome wife Mrs. LOTC and even Daryl from twitter was there!  The session was informative, a little about the race and how for the swim you end up swimming in a canal for the last half of the swim and the current helps you finish, I LOVED that part.  Of course they went around the room and we had to say a little about ourselves.  Obviously John was the life of the party and started out by saying "Hi my name is John and I'm a mountainbiker", like we were in a self help group or something, and it went downhill from there.  JUST KIDDING, he was really really funny.  He mentioned that he trained for the Muskoka 70.3 by doing ALOT of mountain biking and a little running so I was a bit alarmed when Nancy kept referencing his race and training.. what part of "he didn't really train did you miss"? lmao  I can't wait to see how this year's training goes for him (JPO).  Aside from the coaches he was one of the more experienced guys in the group and provided MUCH entertainment.  I confessed that I was doing it for the tattoo.

After the meeting we went for drinks, apparently these triathletes aren't much into drinking, maybe we need Bryan to join the group and liven it up?  I had a really good time chatting with the Procs and getting to know them better.  And while John may appear to be a really nice guy because he paid for my drinks he still won't buy his long suffering amazing wife a bike.  I'm determined to find a way to convince him to get her a new bike this year, there has to be a bribe out there somewhere!

So after loads of laughing a few laughs and some #trashtalk about Rodney we called it a night.

8km run on deck for me today, that will be over by 11:00am and then I have the rest of the day to myself. I have a free spin class (thank you Janicke) on Sunday as well and I'll need to fit some strength training in there too.

I wanted to mention that I got my postcard from Kona (that was actually mailed from Burlington) that contained the seekrit message only meant for those that bought him beer by contributing to the TPPF.  I can't tell you what the message is but I've put the card up on my fridge next to my training plan for the month for motivation. Thanks Bryan!!

One final interesting fact, my last blog about reorganizing my triathlon clothes got more hits than any other one I've written.. I'm not sure what that says about you guys....

That's all I got.

Sort of...

Well after pretty close to a perfect weekend I am happy to report:
MASS shopping spree - check!
8km run - check!
15km recovery cycle - check!

When I first met the woman from TCOB (who just finished Kona not far behind Bryan I might add) we were talking about biking and she mentioned that she would come biking with me as she needed to 'spin her legs' and do some recovery after riding 180kms for training that day.  In the past, from this coach potato,  I had never heard anything so ridiculous. I would pretty much pat myself on the back for getting off the coach to walk to the fridge after walking to the store.  After my run on Saturday which was my longest run to date, double my usual mileage, my legs were toast.  My quads were a burning mess, my shins a disaster, my hamstrings refused to speak to me and my knees were bulging out of their sockets and I never knew I had hip flexors until they were screaming at me while I was sitting down, WTF!! So on Sunday my coach had advised rather than do the tri training with the group I should do a recovery bike ride and 'spin my legs'.  After some coffee and a GU gel, because I wasn't feeling very breakfasty I headed out, well hobbled out the front door with George in tow.   I did 15km  ride along the lake and it was absolutely gorgeous.  While my legs still hurt they did start to feel better.  I got home and the hobble was gone and I was feeling amazing!  That is until I realized that I had about 5 loads of laundry to do, the machines are downstairs, the dirty clothes were upstairs and stairs still kinda hurt.  But I get it, I see how this recovery stuff works now.

Today after work I had last minute dinner plans which I had totally forgotten about and then I had to make some stops on the way home so tonight became an unplanned rest day that I am swapping for Friday so I thought I'd do some dresser drawer rearranging.  I am starting to get more training clothes and gear and gadgets and I can never remember where the heck anything is so I decided to organize!  The only question, sort by sport or sort by type of clothing (shirts, shorts, pants)?  After some deliberation I decided I would sort by sport, a running drawer, a cycling drawer and an odds and ends (socks, RUNderwear, gadget) drawer!  I also realized that while I will often wear running shirts cycling I never wear cycling shirts running, is that weird?   So there you have it, I'm all sorted and organized and I know wear my Garmin chest strap is (right this minute).  #WIN!  And oh my gawd when did I become THIS person, THIS person that is getting excited about sport focused drawers??  Remember when I used to post about fun stuff like friends throwing TVs at my feet?  oh the good ol' days!   or how about when my friends almost burned down my house?  What happened to THAT girl huh?

And no I'm not telling you how slow my run was, trust me it was SLOW.  I can say the first half was much better than the second half but I have absolutely no clue how on earth I'll ever be able to do a half marathon in February.  It feels like an impossibility now but talk to me after my next 8km run this coming weekend.

That's all I got!
Whoops, I lied, I wanted to mention that I met the coolest lady Pamela at the lake after I finished my ride.  She came over to check out George as I was putting him back in the rack and we got to chatting and she's a triathlete with a super cool TREK bike with the tires that cost twice what my bike costs and she was really sweet and we chatted for ages. I want to be just like her one day.  She was going out to Grimsby or thereabouts for a nice afternoon ride, maybe do 70 or 80km.  Nice job Pamela, you rock!!!!!

Shopaholic?

I JUST posted this entry and my internet died.  I'm NOT happy about that.. argh!  Sooooo what I think I was saying was that all my life I would join a sport or start a hobby and buy ALL the gear.  In fact alot of the time I couldn't start unless I had absolutely everything I needed and within 2 weeks or a month I'd be bored and the 'stuff' would there just sit taking up space.

Triathlons seem to be a different story.  I just got back from Foottools, my local running shop and they are having a blow out sale!  I got alot of stuff, two pairs of shoes, more on that later, long sleeve shirt for when it gets chilly, long pants, new socks, hair buff and running underwear.. seriously.. "runderwear?" ok I admit I think I got a bit caught up in the whole shopping/sale part.  But I'm excited to have some clothes so I can keep running outside as it gets cooler.  I used to be a treadmill only girl but I am converted now, I dread the day I have to run on the treadmill again.

I got home and went to put away my shoes and realized I own 6 pairs of running shoes.. SIX pairs and they were all bought for running but each have their own purpose now.

Saucony - I bought these to run in years ago but hello shin splints, so these are my everyday shoes
Mizuno - these were my first real running shoes that were comfortable.  I only use them for running, they still have some cushion in them and I love them so!!!  I will soon move these down to my everyday shoes.
Nike Free - I bought  these to run in but I like more cushioning so I use these for lifting weights (squats, lunges, deadlifts etc), because they are so flat it's almost like lifting in bare feet and I feel much more stable.
Nike - these were a huge mistake purchse.  I bought them cause they were cute but no human could run in these so I only wear them for short periods of time.  They are white and pink and adorable!!
Brooks Infinity, my new shoes!! Got these today for a STEAL!!  MORE than half off!  Paula advised to use these for regular running with the group and my shorter runs.
Mizuno Alchemy, oh my god these are heaven!!  and I got these for a STEAL as well.  I should use these on my long runs.  Saturdays are my long run days so after breaking them in I'll be calling them my Saturday shoes.

The Brooks and Mizuno make it official. I'm a runner.  Not a fast runner but I run..  It's pretty cool to go out and buy all this stuff knowing it will get used, and then overused and that I'll have to replace it sooner rather than later.  I've come a LONG way.

It's great that John and Paula are part of my Tuesday running group, they have seen my running (or attempt at it, haha).  They are super helpful AND on top of the sale items I get a discount there because I work with Coach Nancy.

And on that note, me and my old Mizunos are heading out for our Saturday run, 8km, my longest yet.  It's going to take me a while but I have my Garmin, some tunes and I think I'm going to drive back down to the lake to run, it's much prettier down there.

That's all I got!  (I better press post before this dies again)

I owe Bryan some calories!

I did amazing last week with my training (two spin classes, OUCH) and my eating UNTIL (dun dun dun) Saturday after my session with my coach... from then on it was epic fail.. 

And while I feel bad that I didn't do better I'm not that upset AND

I won't regret it, in fact I REFUSE to regret it.. I'm done with spending hours and days kicking myself for choices I make.  Yes, there are consequences for my actions (or lack thereof) BUT MOVE ON.. take lessons learned (and turkey eaten, yummy) and just keep going.

And now I'll start with the making up...  move along folks, nothing to see here..

Tonight, I RUN.

That's all I got

KONA baby

and I'm not talking about coffee.  Lots going on in SIU October BUT there is nothing more important than Bryan Payne kicking ass in Kona today.  Details on how to follow him are on his blog.  This is my first year following Kona online, I usually wait for the NBC coverage to come out and I have Bryan as well as my friend Jackie from the Triathlon Club of Burlington to follow today.

Today I'll be getting my trainer here and set up with the coach and then doing a strength workout. Then I'm running down to Foottools to pick up some new running shoes for my long winter training season.  Tomorrow morning there will be a long ride as this is some seriously amazing weather and then tri training (swim, bike AND run) with my Sunday training group and of course, another ride on Monday.  I am definintely NOT letting this weather get away from me.

GO BRYAN!!!

It's catchy!!

There are a couple of people that are joining me for #SIU October, that’s awesome! Some people, well a lot of people in my blog/twitter/real life actually LIVE SIU. I am on the bubble. So far so good though, awesome workouts this week including my favourite run! Finally I feel that my lungs are starting to loosen up. I was coughing a lot after my run and am hoping that I will start getting rid of some of the damage I did with over 30 years of smoking. Yes that’s right folks, I started smoking when I was 12, by 14, I was smoking regularly. I struggle with this every single day, I wake up wanting to smoke, and the feeling lasts all day. I had hoped it would fade but it seems to be getting worse. Thankfully I have my eye on the prize, which is the half iron in July and there is NO way I would finish if I were to take up the habit again so MORE SIU.

We had a guest speaker last night at run club, Diane Gordon. I didn’t hear all her credentials but she is an experienced racer/athlete and she spoke about balance. At the beginning of her chat she said that she was likely going to speak to things we already knew but she hoped we would take something away with us. She did say something that resonated with me with respect to scheduling. I always struggle with getting my workouts in, life happens right. She said to make your schedule around the things you cannot change and then schedule everything else around your runs (workouts). I like this a lot!

One other note worth mentioning was John from Foottools, our local running shop.  Foottools  works with my coach and our running group and John spoke about making sure you remember it’s not just about race day but to pay attention to the journey of training. Ok he didn’t say that exactly but it was kind of like that. I sat on a yoga ball listening to this and nodding my head in agreement (and even got a little choked up but don’t tell anyone ok) because what I found out along the way was it really WAS about how I got to race day more than race day itself. When I agreed to do a try-a-tri I had a list of goals and an image in my head of what race day would look like. NONE of it was what I expected, most of all the journey to get to Sept 5, which ended up being a sprint rather than a try-a-tri. I never would have thought I would remember the training and lessons learned as much as or more than race day. Don’t get me wrong, race day was amazing and I have loads of good memories but more than that I remember getting to race day. I remember the people I have met along the way, in real life, on twitter and through my blog, I remember the good training days where I felt on top of the world and the bad training days where I was frustrated and disappointed. I remember every drop of blood on the freaking bike. I remember wiping out and finishing the sprint race simulation, I may be prouder of that than my raceday finish. I remember the support of people along the way, the encouraging words and gestures and the ribbing (SIU right).

I am a member of the TCOB (Triathlon Club of Burlington). I don’t train with them because they are well above my physical abilities but never the less, I am a dues paying member. The annual newsletter came out yesterday and they listed “all” members who had completed their first ever triathlon and my name was not on the list. Ok, I don’t train with them all the time, I did swim with them in the spring for months but that doesn’t mean I’m not part of the club and then it hit me.. I’m NOT part of that club.. I’m part of..

the Triathlon Club of twitter
the Triathlon Club of She Said I Need a Goal
the Triathlon Club of the house of Payne
the Triathlon Club of SUCK IT UP
the Triathlon Club of #trashtalk
the Triathlon Club of Second Wind Conditioning and coach Nancy
the Triathlon Club of Mommies in Motion
the Triathlon Club of Adena’s facebook
the Triathlon Club of bike wipeouts

That’s all I got

I do declare!

I declare that October is SIU month.. yup, SUCK IT UP month! Who’s with me? Ah, why not, Halloween schmalloween, much better to suck it up!! I know October started on Friday and I had a great cycle on Saturday, 40km (my first time). It was an easy pedal with a good friend who has a very old bike. We explored the path along the lake towards Grimsby and made it to Fifty Point before we turned back. I am glad we turned back when we did because by the time we hit the lake trail again the wind had picked up and it was getting much colder and the rain started to come down. I had worn some long pants over my cycling shorts but decided not to wear them for the ride as I don’t have those thingys to keep your pant legs out of your chain thingers (try to stay with me here on the technical issues). It got COLD! My legs were beet red by the time we got back. Cycling 40km is a bit more tiring than I thought, even when it is an easy pedal. I got home, had a HOT HOT coffee, then a HOT HOT bath and then an awesome nap, two naps actually. And could someone please explain what is with all the napping and tired I’ve had this last year? I realize I’m getting old but I’m becoming downright narcoleptic. I mean the headbob may be fine on the couch at home and even in meetings at work but definitely not recommended when driving or cycling or running.


I have my updated training schedule which includes getting a trainer for George for free, from my awesome coach on Saturday. So when it’s crap outside I can still ride inside at my house which means I don’t have to go to a gym which is lovely. Now I just need to get some warmer running gear as the weather cools so I don’t freeze or boil on my runs. I’d rather run outside than on a treadmill if I can, I realize this can’t happen all the time but I’m hoping more often than not. I thought about getting a treadmill but since I just bought the bike and I’m definitely not rich I’ll have to pass on the treadmill for the basement for now. Unless of course someone wants to give me one.. anyone? Hello?? (worth a shot)

OK THEN. MORE news for me for SIU month. I have a solid nutrition plan and not a plan that I made up either. I have been chatting with a nutritionist who’s blog I stalk and she has come up with a plan for me. She follows the principles of Precision Nutrition and while I have taken their Lean Eating course they are more focused on weight training than endurance training and I was getting a little lost in the carb timing. So she put together a nutrition plan that supports the training schedule from my coach and the hope is I will drop all this excess weight over the winter. Unfortunately her plan does not include beer.. WHAT??!! Or wine.. HUH??!! So yes, I’m on the wagon until the end of the month. I have plans for Halloween and will drink that one night but until then, I’m virtuous! I have social plans over the next few weeks so no drinking will not be easy but I am focused and also have booked early morning training sessions on weekends which I find helps me stay off the drinks a lot! Haha For those interested, Georgie’s website has loads of great information, advice and free recipes. I have tried many of them and they are super yummy. If I may, she also has a reasonably priced cookbook called "Dig In" you can purchase and all the recipes I have tried from there have been fantastic.

I am wrestling with the idea of posting stats and / or photos here of my progress but my biggest fear is that I don’t drop the weight. In the past, despite a vigorous training schedule and limited diet I did not drop weight as I had expected and suspect there may be more going on (thyroid or something). I will write down where I am starting and of course keep stats as I go. If the weight does not come off I’ll definitely be seeing a doctor.

So tonight is a bike ride and depending on what time I get home from work I have the option of Monday night spin class which I think would be good, it will certainly burn some calories. I’d rather cycle outside but it’s getting dark out much earlier now. Tomorrow is run club, Wednesday more cycling and Thursday back in the pool after a post-tattoo pool hiatus.

Here we go!

Note to self, if you want to drop weight you should really stop looking at websites like this and this.