Keep on running up that hill

Just keep on running up that hill- those words have been my mantra for the months of october and november. It's funny that a girl from a town with nothing but hills doesn't like hills, but they just kill me! I am trying to focus on good form, and proper breathing technique- hopefully by the end of december and january I will start to see some positive results. Sometimes I find myself super frustrated at my progress during these sessions, but keeping a positive and clear head is key. Hopefully things will start improving!

I am still riding outside- amazingly! It feels so odd to be outside on a bike when it is part- way through December. The amount of people I saw wearing shorts on my ride today was mind blowing! I took some great pictures while cycling along the ocean today and meant to post them, but accidentally deleted them off of my phone. Next ride!

In less than a week I will be home in Rossland. I think that a break from school is much needed and will help with my current funk that I've been in for about two weeks. I've had this annoying mini-cold that I can't seem to kick- but some quiet mornings without screaming kids rattling my ceiling should do the trick!

Time to head off to the pool- then back to studying for finals!

Thanks for reading!

November!

I guess I've been neglecting my blog over the past month or so- so now for a quick updater! Chilly November has already rolled around and with that I have unearthed all of my "winter" running clothes. Not like I need the real heavy duty stuff for victoria... if the weather ever dips below -5C I might cry a little inside- but tight season is here!

Training has been going very well over the past few weeks- the hours steadily building up, but with low intensity. This week I have an easier week volume wise, which is a nice break- especially to catch up on school work.

Midterms are all over as of today, and now the final focus is on a few assignments and the upcoming finals. Hopefully I can plan out my schedule well enough to allow for ample study time, without too much stress time. I am still finding it hard to find a good balance with stress in my life... its an ongoing process, but I can safely say that moving over to Victoria has made me happier and that has decreased my stress levels significantly!

Off to get a ride in!

Happy training!

Island Life

Hey everyone, I apologize for my lack of updating (not that there is anyone who religiously reads this blog... come to think of it, my parents don't even read this.). Things have been slightly hetic lately, but in a good way. I have moved into my place in Victoria- well if you really want to get technical- in Cadboro Bay, in Saanich, and have begun my fall semester at UVIC. Right off the bat I can easily say that I am happy here. Whatever it is- the island, the greenery, the people, the school environment... it just clicks with me. At the moment in week three of fall term, I still feel as if I am on vacation. Getting to spend my days riding and running along the ocean is fantastic... and the lack of crazy drivers/traffic is a bonus too.

To start with school- UVIC and SFU did a grand botch job of transferring my credits, so there are a few courses that I am currently re-taking. EPHE 141 (human anatomy) is the main problem, but I am interested in this material, so it is no problem to re-do this. Physics on the other hand was a slight nightmare. I enrolled in PHYS 120, which is the type for engineers... not exactly what I wanted to be taking, and to top that off the course outline was identical to the physics that I had just completed over the summer. Long story short I have dropped the engineering physics and am taking the very special transfer student friendly PHYS 290 starting in the spring semester. Basically, I received a partial credit of 1.5units from a course here, and in the spring I am able to just jump in and finish up the second half to gain the full 3.0 units. That makes me pretty happy! With physics out of the way for fall semester I have picked up and online kinesiology course about the foundations of physical activity (whoopeee!), which will go on top of cellular biology, microbiology and my human anatomy courses. Overall I think I have a pretty easy and interesting semester ahead of me. Currently 3 of the 4 courses are all covering the exact same topic... the cell-so I am finding it no trouble to stay on top of my coursework.

Now onto triathlon life- I am still in the easy build back phase of training. The training load is nice and light, with lots of focus on run strength. I couldn't be more happy about this, as anyone who has seen my horrible running style will agree... it needs some work. It's great to have a group of people to run with, and to have a coach who actually pays attention to me and gives constructive feedback! Unfortunately, I have 8:30 class everyday of the week, so I miss group swims- but swimming at UVIC is not a bad second.

The next few weeks look to be more of the same, school work and training. I am looking forward to meeting more people and getting to know the island better (getting lost everytime I ride isn't always the most fun thing!).

I guess it's time to "publish" this post, as I have been sitting on it long enough. Not having internet at home certainly puts a limit to blogging :) Hopefully that small problem will be remedied within this week!

Back to the books.

Cheers!

Hot August

This past weekend I wrapped up my 2011 race season by competing at Canadian Nationals in Kelowna. This race was about redemption for me, as last year I was told two days before the race that my foot was broken...

I finished up my summer semester at SFU on tuesday and drove back to the Kootenays, just in time to snag some perfect summer weather!

My mum and I drove to Kelowna together, and arrived just in time to check in my bike and pick up my race package.

Race morning: my start was at 9:35 with the 20-29 females. That gave me plenty of time to set up transition and watch the other swim starts. The water temp. this year was wetsuit legal for the AGers, and I am glad, because it felt a little chilly!

Swim-

Time: 24:10 I am happy with this result, as it is a full 47s faster than two weeks ago. But I felt that my swim was horrible when I was actually swimming... it was pretty rough with all of the girls swimming in a big mob pack and not separating until partway through the second lap.

T1- Slowly getting better stripping off my wetsuit!

Bike- Kelowna's course is a 3 loop circuit, each time climbing up Knox Mtn. The climb isn't all that bad, but it is deceiving in the fact that the uphill gradually continues for another couple of kms. I really enjoyed this course- the fact that it was closed to traffic, had some fun fast turns and looping past spectators was a good mental boost.

T2- I came into transition and there was only one other bike on the rack... so I racked mine and suddenly the rack broke!! The metal bar between the sawhorses wasn't in place- needless to say that got my heart racing as I started yelling at the volunteers to come and fix it.

Run- This was the scary part. Right after Sooke I noticed a tight pain in my knee, and thought nothing of it. Turns out I badly pulled my rectus femoris, making running almost impossible, and swimming for that matter. I took running on and off easy for two weeks- scared to test it out.

I started the 10k with a half plan in my mind of what to do if the pain started, but luckily no such thing happened! Just general stiffness/tightness in the quad. My pace felt really great, and I was having fun chasing this one lady. Unfortunately my time of just under 48min didn't reflect how I was feeling, but c'est la vie and that's what I get for no proper running for 2 weeks injured.

Post race- I am very happy to say that I qualified to go to Auckland, NZ in October 2012 for AG worlds! My mum and I got to watch the elite females and males race, and cheer on Emma in her first elite race!

Back at home now I am having a "mini-vacation" week of rest and no training. The no training part is definitely there, but I am not too sure about the rest aspect.... moving my grandparent's out of their 60 year old home is not a restful activity haha! I am looking forward to this weekend to volunteer in T1 at Ironman Canada and to cheer on my friends that are racing.

That's all for now- time to hit the beach!

Sooke Race

Instead of writing a big long race report of the Subaru Sooke race, I've decided to try it in more of a picture format (because I had my dad's camera with me). Plus, procrastination here is at it's greatest today!

Simply put, my race was ok. I was sick for about 2 weeks and still sick race morning, so I knew that it would be a "give it what you have, and don't expect anything crazy" type of scenario. I swam a new 1500m PB (actually I felt amazing on the swim!) and even though the run was all types of horrible for me, (cramps, diziness, etc) I managed to pull out a new olympic distance 10km PB too. The course was very challenging, the bike was just epic. I was actually scared when I looked way up some of the climbs and saw racers walking their bikes. The race though was my first good result, putting me as 6th woman OA.

Sooke River Campground

Swim start at Young Lake

Heading into T1- 24:57 swim time

Starting the run

Next up in two weeks time is Canadian Nationals in Kelowna! Less that 6 days left in Coquitlam (and 3 finals to write) then back to Rossland. The focus this week is to get in some good training sessions, major study time and to tackle my Physics and Biology 101 finals that are both on friday.

Full results of the race here.

Hello August!

I can't quite believe that August is just around the corner, literally one day away! Thinking back to a year ago I was relaxing in Rosebery and heading to Kaslo for the amazing Jazz festival. Sitting on the beach listening to great music played off of a floating stage- life can't get much better. Well that's not exactly the case for me this year, but luckily I get one little tidbit of nice for my weekend here on the coast- the weather has finally decided to cooperate and the sun is shining! It's nice not to wear jeans and a hoodie everyday, shorts are a nice change!

School is slowly winding down, only 5 days of classes left and then finals galore! I am trying to be good and balance my studying, but I have found that the best place to hit the books is at the school- and far away from my room. Stress is not something I deal with very well... actually I create it and sometimes thrive on it, but after a certain point it just makes me sick. I burnt myself out earlier this week as several things all crashed down on me at once. I literally made myself sick. So doing the right thing, I took the next day off of school and training and lied in bed all day. I woke up at 5pm and was asleep again by 9pm... I need to learn how to de-stress myself and put my mind into a relaxed state. Yoga, reading and deep breathing only seem to be temporary fixes, so this is something that I really need to focus on to ensure that I stay healthy and happy. I am just about better, only a scratchy throat and stuffed nose now- hopefully by monday I will be in the clear!

On to more positive things: this coming race I am heading over to Victoria to race the Sooke Olympic distance triathlon. The Subaru tri series does a great job of putting on these events, and I am really looking forward to being a participant! The bike course is slightly longer than a standard olympic distance, it being 46km instead of 40km... so I am going into this race not with a time goal, but with an overall placing goal. I'd like to see myself in the top 20 women, with a time that is not any more than 20min off of the winning time.

This trip looks like a fun one, especially because I will be checking out my future victoria home for the upcoming school year!

A shout-out to Ironman triathlete Dallas Cain, who has been crushing it at both the Osoyoos and Sylvan Lake half ironman events. (My Grandma doesn't keep tabs on just my racing- she save the news paper articles of other HATC athletes and phones to tell me these things!) Anyone racing IMC at the end of August better watch out!

It's back to the books for me... have to get in 3hrs of organic chemistry before I am allowed to have some more fun and hit the Spani outdoor pool. First time in an outdoor pool this summer!

I'll post again with a recap of the Sooke Tri.

Peach Classic Race Report

It's that time again... the few days after a race that all bloggers/athletes turn to their blogs and give their race reports. I think that writing a race report is a positive thing for the athlete. Not for the publicity or sharing with friends/family aspect (that does count too), but for the mental reflection. No one ever has a truly perfect race- there are usually a few things that go wrong or that can be improved upon, and by analyzing the race these errs can be found and worked on. Thinking about it is great, but actually putting pen to paper... or in this case hands to keyboard, those realizations and ideas become a lot more stable and easier to see.

This past weekend I competed in my third olympic distance event, the Penticton Peach Classic. This race is in its 29th year, and used to be considered one of the hardest triathlons in Canada.... until they went and made the run course pancake flat. I was registered for it last year, but due to injury I couldn't compete, so actually being able to get to the starting line made me very excited to see what Penticton had to offer! Going into the race I was tired, let me rephrase that- exhausted. My legs felt like lead from the get go, and wobbly dead legs from the swim made me realize that this was going to be a race just to get through. After all, this was just a training race- so I am taking everything in stride as a lesson to learn.

SWIM: the course was changed at the last minute, and instead of a 1 loop course, it became a 2 loop shared with the sprint distance athletes. The RD made the decision of starting both the Olympic and Sprint distance out together as one mass start... and let me just say that it was the most chaotic swim I have ever done. Maybe next year they will start in waves.... Aside from the mass amounts of flailing arms and legs, the water was choppy! I felt like a little boat getting rocked and pushed around- it was one of the hardest OW swims that I have ever done, and by the look of the times, many other people found it equally rough.

T1: This was good, until I hit the mount bike line... I stepped on my cleat to mount my bike and the next thing I knew I was on top of my bike/on the ground. I guess I stepped on my shoe at an angle that detached it from the pedal. Not my finest moment, but the blood made for some pretty epic race photos I am sure!

BIKE: The peach did not lack in the bike department that's for certain! The course was super hilly, but I found it as a nice challenge. The scenery is beautiful, I would like to go back and just ride the course as a training ride and really get to take in the views (and maybe stop at the wineries :) )

T2: I decided not to make anymore of an idiot of myself... so I dismounted my bike the safe way, and switched my shoes at my transition spot. On thursday I purchased new and proper racing flats that actually fit my feet- and what a joy they were to slip into! No problems there!

RUN: The run was pretty good. There were a couple of ladies out of T2 with me at the same time... so I decided to hunt them down. It's always fun to have someone to focus on and chase. The weather was perfect for running, but I still found myself dumping water over my head to keep my temperature down. The run was two looks that zigzagged around by the park and through some back alleys. Running past those stinky dumpsters was motivation to get the heck out of there!

*Apparently* the course was 10.6km instead of 10.00km. Now if this is indeed true, I am super happy with my 10km time!! I calculated the time I ran and put it to the distance of 10.6- and it looks like with my pace it would have given me about a 45min 10k.... and that would be a super huge PB for me!! I haven't raced a standalone 10k since 2009, but this gives me confidence that on fresh legs I will be able to nail a good time. Progress is good!

Feelings: I still have a whole slew of things that I need to work on! More practice with wetsuit stripping, getting on/off my bike, improving T2.... and those are just the little easy things to fix! My time was over 7min off of what I wanted, but the winning female came in 2hrs18min- so this was by no means a fast course. I am taking this all as a learning experience to help me get up higher in the sport. Being only 19, and in my first year of triathlon- I have a LONG ways to go until I can get up to the level of some of my team-mates! But I am confident in myself as an athlete, I trust my talented coach Noa, and above all I just like the sport plain and simple. For me, it's a blast! Hard at times, but crossing that finish line is rewarding.... cheesy, I know.

For full race results: HERE

Oh and here is a photo of my sweet new race kit!

Gearing up!

Well it is almost time for my 4th triathlon! And 3rd Olympic Distance event! On sunday I will be racing the Penticton Peach. I am excited to travel out to Penticton and get a much deserved break away from the mountain of homework and exams that is looming above my head. Unfortunately, I can't stay in Penticton any longer than the weekend, but hopefully next year I will be able to race and then attend Noa's training camp. If only I could find a replacement to write my organic chemistry midterm- then I would be all set... but that has even worse odds than finding a needle in a haystack!

My goals for this race are simple: swim strong and remember to breathe (don't want to induce that nasty headache that happens whenever I race/swim), crush the bike... hopefully no mechanical issues this time round and finish with a steady run. I don't know how much the heat will play a factor into this race, but I've been training in some pretty hot conditions lately... so hopefully I can handle it. I've decided to wear socks for the run... I can't get my feet into my flats sockless without my orthotics bunching up and with elastic laces on- but I feel that I save a lot of time by being able to just slip my shoes on. An added note, my feet blister like hell! Currently it looks like I have some disease on them.... all spotted and weeping and red. Gross. Trying to save them from further pain I am definitely wearing socks.

All in all I am going into this race with a positive frame of mind, but in the end whatever happens will happen. I am not going to fuss over the small things (like the weather, and no I haven't checked it yet- so don't tell me!) but simply let everything unfold as it will and try to keep my head up and happy.

That's all for now. RR when I get back from my little Okanagan Vacation!

Some things I'd like to do

This endless rain has got me daydreaming of hot, long summer rides. I've done a couple century rides the past few summers, and there is nothing better than spending a beautiful day outdoors while on your bike and enjoying the scenery. Especially if you are lucky enough to ride around the Slocan Valley or down near Northport WA. I've been planned/scheming up some routes for my return to Rossland at the endof August- a good way to celebrate the end of summer and the end of school!

Here's my list:

1) The Silver Triangle-

being a Slocan lake girl, I find myself drawn to this ride. I've do

ne most parts of the route on the Slocan Valley side, and I never get tired of looking down at the lake and up to the Valhallas. This could be broken up into two ~100km legs, but I am tempted to hammer it out and get the whole loop done in one go!

2) Northport China Bend-

I rode this one two summers with Rita. Aside from my stomach rotting from excess gatorade near the last 20km, this was another good ride. Starting in Northport, head back towards home, and turn onto China Bend Road that leads to the winery. This puts you on the opposite side of the road that the main highway travels. The whole stretch from Northport to Kettle Falls was my favourite! A combination of rolling hills, views of the Columbia river, a magnificent drop down to the water level and a road relatively free of traffic make for a fun outing. There is a small gravel strip about 1-2km in length up near the winery, but nothing unrideable...

I would only do this ride on the weekend because of the big logging truck traffic that clogs the main highway during the week days. I hope to do this ride again soon! The full loop from Northport to Northport is about 110km. It would be challenging to loop it from Rossland to Rossland (yay hills!) or start in Rossland, ride the first half and cross the boarder back into Christina Lake, and ride home from there.

3) Bombi Pass Ride 130km-

The lure of the Bombi! This ride could be started just about anywhere, depending on what you want to tackle first. Basically starting in Nelson and riding to Playmor Junction. Turning into the Slocan Valley, and then into Crescent Valley. Follow Pass Cr. Road into Castlegar and then up the Bombi pass. This is a 16km climb- long. (There is even the "Assult on the Bombi" race up this pass). Descend the Bombi down into Salmo, and follow the road into Ymir and eventually back into Nelson.

Those are the three rides that I'd really like to tackle sometime this year. I don't see the point in traveling to far away places to ride when I have my "back yard", and what a huge back yard, to explore.

Any takers willing to ride these with me? Full or partial! Any other ride suggestions around the kooks that are a must do?

Here's to riding in the sun!

Wasa Race Report

I love the Kootenays. Any excuse to go home is gladly welcomed by me, so the 2011 Wasa Lake Triathlon put on by rmevents was the perfect excuse to head back for the weekend. Last year I raced wasa as my first ever triathlon, and it seemed only fitting to go back again and compare my times. Plus, the atmosphere is great! Beautiful setting, great organization, happy racers and even though the race keeps growing, it still maintains its "grassroots" kootenay feel. If you have never done this race before be sure to put it on your list for next year... it truly is a great event- but sells out!!

I flew home into cancelgar friday afternoon after hashing through a physics midterm. Luckily the flight was in the afternoon, because true to its name, the morning flight into C-gar was cancelled. Made it home in time to attend part of RSS Grad 2011. It was great to see my friends and the new grads! They are a class that really cared about graduation, and it showed in their decorations, march and all of their festivities. Congratulations RSS class of 2011!

Leaving to Cranbrook sat. am was a bit delayed due to the fact that our key broke off in the door... whoops. So I got to do my bike/brick at home in the sun (and on my nicely tuned bike). We finally got on the road and made it into Cranbrook in 2.5hrs. I checked out the cranbrook pool and then my mum and I headed to the pre-race meeting-- amazing draw prizes, and I really wanted to win a new wetsuit. Alas, no such luck. We stayed out at St. Eugene's Resort on the Reserve out near Kimberly. The hotel was an old residential school, and restored beautifully! Also- the lounge went above and beyond to try and accommodate me and my finicky stomach- no gluten for me!

Race Morning: It was cloudy/overcast but not raining, with temp. hovering just under 10 degrees. After setting up my transition area I had plenty of time to warm-up and watch the sprint and men's olympic starts. The olympic women's start was a 1/2hr after the men's (the women made up the majority of the racers this year) and the sun was just beginning to peak out as we started. The course was a big clockwise loop on the south end of the lake. My sighting was decent, and I was able to stay away from the thrashers at the beginning. On the last stretch I sighted the beach and noticed that no one was out of the water yet. This was a huge surprise to me! I am NOT a good swimmer, so my positioning of being in the top few women made my day! The run up of 95m from the beach was included in swim time.

T1: thanks to the wetsuit strippers it was pretty fast. Hopped on the bike with my shoes attached- major win for me!

Bike: New bike course this year. Instead of the flat and fast ride out to Skookumchuck, the course ran in the opposite direction to Forte Steele. A bit more challenging, the new course had 5 good long rollers on the way out- but nothing crazy. The fresh pavement and variety of the course definitely made this one a winner. The bike went well except my chain fell off twice on two hills when I downshifted. Getting off twice to fix the chain wasn't my cup of tea- but that's racing for you!!

T2: nice and quick. grabbed a gel on the way out- as I didn't take in any nutrition on the bike.

Run: The sun was out full blast by the time I hit the run course. Nice to finally see the sun for the first time in what seems like weeks! I tried to maintain a steady pace, but began to struggle a bit through the middle section. I picked it up in the last 2km and reeled it in to a 2:31:33 finish. Just about 5min faster than last year, and on a slightly more challenging course.

Overall I had a really great weekend seeing friends and family! It was a much needed break from life in Coquitlam and SFU.

The High Altitude Club finished third in the team challenge! Way to go guys!!

Thanks for reading!

Juan De Fuca Sprint and Victoria Trip

This past weekend I traveled to Victoria. Of course picking the may-long weekend, I realized that the busses, skytrains and ferries would be absolutely chaos- and was I ever right! From leaving my place in Coquitlam carrying a backpack, dufflebag and my bike it took me 6.5hrs to arrive in Victoria. Coach Noa picked me up from the ferry terminal and drove me into Victoria. I think that was the easiest leg of my journey! I am lucky enough to have great connections with people on the island and was able to stay at my mum's partner's brother's house in the Fernwood/OakBay area. I had the whole (amazing) house to myself, as they were in Halifax for the weekend.

On saturday I rode my bike into town, which took only 10min, and headed straight for MEC. I am now the proud owner of a garmin 11o watch. I passed the rest of the day with getting my workouts done- a small brick and recovery swim at crystal pool- the first 50m pool that I have ever been to!

Sunday morning I hitched a ride with Kim C--. an althete also coached by Noa, to the JDF sprint out in Colwood. My heat was scheduled to start at 8am.

Starting off with a pool swim was interesting. With only 3 people to a lane, things weren't crowded, but it felt like the water temp. was HOT with all of those bodies. I nailed everyone of my flip turns- but completely lost count of what lap I was on after about 5 laps. Of course, I swam an extra 50m, making my swim 800m instead of 750m because I didn't see the kickboard signalling my last length- no matter- I am super stoked with my swim time of 12:18. T1 was decent, but I need to learn how to mount my bike with my shoes already attached. The bike was a 2x out and back course. Beautiful yet challenging. The course was hilly, but that's always a nice change from the long flat stuff. Back into T2- if I thought T1 was bad, this topped it by about a million! I couldn't get my flats on properly- my orthodics kept bunching up each time I slid my bare foot in.... I tried 4x and then decided to take out the orthodics and wear the shoes as is. So about 2min wasted dicking around with my shoes... not too happy but I've got to start somewhere. The run was also hilly, but on a cedar chip trail- so soft on the feet. The first km felt good and then things fell apart. I was really lagging for the next 1.5km until the turn around.... my legs just felt dead and my IT band had this nasty knot in it that was making my leg go numb. I picked it up when I realized that the course was an out and back, not 2 loops as said on the website- and finished strong. I am taking this race as another learning experience, afterall it was only my second triathlon and I have A LOT to learn! Racing two weeks apart and with out tapering is not something that I am used to yet, but I know overtime that things will get better.

Later sunday afternoon, Emma and I headed out for a long ride around Victoria. Wow is all I can say! Victoria has such beautiful countryside and roads for riding. Not to mention that I also feel so much safer riding over there than I do in Vancouver.

My cousin Rachel and her husband Stu took me out for breakfast monday a.m. and then drove me to the ferry. Luckily the trip home was only 5.5hrs, and less stressful than the trip over.

After spending a few days in Victoria I have finally made up my mind to transfer over to UVIC and do my BSc. in Kinesiology there. I have been toying with the idea since winter break, as I have just not been happy at SFU. The metropolitan feel of the city just doesn't suit my boots- I am too much of a small town girl for the likes of suburbia and vancouver. I have been missing out on good training sessions with an actual team, and if I want to take my career in triathlon any further, I need to be training with a team. I think that the decision to go to UVIC will be a good one- and is something that I am greatly looking forward to!

I've got about two weeks until my next race at Wasa Lake. In that time I am hoping to de-knot my IT band. I guess that's what I get when I neglect to stretch and massage the area. It's not full ITBS yet- and I am hoping to prevent it from getting that far!

Happy Training and enjoy the summer (or the rain-as that seems to be the current weather all across BC!)

Race Season!

Race season has started! This past weekend I competed in my second duathlon, the Penticton Bare Bones Duathlon (5/32/5). I felt a bit nervous going into the race with no taper/down time before the event, but according to coach Noa it is a good experience to head into a race without the comfort of a taper, and I'll have to agree! It was a good learning experience to race on tired legs and a good indicator to see how my body holds up in a race situation. The first 5km went quite well and I managed to stay in 3rd position, but I didn't quite run the time I wanted. Shooting for 20:xx may have been too ambitious for tired legs. Onto the bike and almost like that I was passed by some super speedy girls! The course was challenging with some good climbs and nasty descents that were made a bit sketchy thanks to major potholes and gravel... I'm a chicken when it comes to descents on the bike! The second run felt nice and strong, only the second lap was a struggle to deal with the headwind and rain. I gained back a few spots on the last 5km and managed to finish 6th overall, and first in my AG, but there was just me :) My dad and I drove back from Penticton after the race and arrived at my new place later that night.

All settled in to the Coquitlam basement suite and slowly finding my way around the area and working the bus schedule. I had my first loading the bike onto the bus experience this week- and I can only hope that it gets easier! The bus driver had to get off and help me! A big shout out to Different Bikes Burnaby for helping me with my bike needs etc. Its great to have their amazing support!

Heineken the cat

maybe powerade should sponsor me? (stashed

under my bed for now)

Race winnings: white vino, hat and socks!

Patience

The spring semester seems to have flown by, yet ironically, this last week of classes feels like it will never end. I have my countdown clock set on my dashboard- at this moment 12 days, 14hr, 04min and 00s until my exams are over! Twelve days, that's it! But twelve days packed with studying and cramming kin, chem, calculus and psych into my brain. Good thing I enjoy studying my kinesiology course. At this point I am ready to go back home and have a nice break from the school scene. I love learning, but after a certain point I get burned out and need some time off to recharge my brain and get it in gear for the next semester. I have registered for 3 summer courses, allowing me time to train, study and work part time.

In other news, spring is just around the corner. Just is the operative word. Once in a while we will get a beautiful day, weather worthy of sports bras and shorts for track practice, and the next day it will snow and stick. I can't get my hopes up for riding outside just yet, as two of my past rides have been crushed by lovely snow/hail storms. Who at SFU keeps praying to Ullr? Come on already, it is time for summer!!

Training has been going well. My foot injury is almost resolved, just a collapsed arch to heal up and I should be good to go! After six months of injury and physio I finally have full range of motion in my big toe, seems silly how something so small can effect my whole xc, indoor and outdoor track seasons, but hey, that's life. I am a bit frustrated not being able to attend the outdoor season and race 5/10kms on the track, but after talking with Brit we decided that it is best to redshirt my whole season. On the bright side, this is a bonus for my triathlon racing. And with that- I am super excited to say that I am now training under the super talented, and wonderful Noa Deutsch (and fellow GF foodie!). I have heard nothing but great praise for her not only as a coach, but as a person. A huge thanks to Noa and the PT team for letting me be a part of the team! My swimming is now actually starting to go somewhere, and my bike workouts continue to get better. Sometimes it feels like a struggle to swim (gasp) four times a week for me, but I am learning to enjoy it and I like the challenge of pushing myself to become a better swimmer.

On a non-sports/academic related note here are some things that I am loving at the moment:

1) Modest Mouse- great band, somewhat like the Talking Heads

2) Pineapple and kiwi (fresh and readily available at the DH, can't beat it!)

3) Tazo Chai tea

4) "The Divine Ryans" by Wayne Johnston

5) Sunshine (need more of this)

6) Adele's album 21

Lastly,

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

UBC TriDu Race Report

Well this is the fourth time that I have logged onto my blog, opened a blank template to begin my post, and thought about what to write down. This time, I will actually complete something, and "publish" my post. I am nice and sick, and with that comes a foggy head and heaps of procrastination.

Now for my RR of the UBC tridu that was held this weekend at the UBC campus. First off- I'd like to give a huge thanks to all of the volunteers and people who ran/organized the event. There were tons of people there, and with multiple races happening I am amazed that everything ran so smoothly! To start leading up to the race, things didn't go so well. Late wednesday night my foot began to twinge and hurt and on thursday I found myself in physio. Turns out that too much spike use on old sprint spikes without proper support is not a good thing (duh) and my foot still isn't that strong from my previous injury- so I've got a nice little arch strain to deal with. Fast forward to saturday and I wake up sick. At this point I was upset, but still wanted to do the race, after all my dad was travelling down partly to come and watch/support me and I didn't want to let him down. I took the day easy (apart from finding a suite to live in! more on that later!) to tried to rest up. Woke up sunday a.m. feeling even worse, but decided on doing the race anyway. If worse came to worse- as in if I puked or could no longer run on my foot, I would pull out of the race.

The duathlon started at 11am with about 60 people participating. My first kilometre split was 3:33/km, which freaked me out! Went through the second km in 7:30... basically averaging a 4:00/km pace. I felt great, and thanks to adrenaline I wasn't focussing on my foot. Came through around 20:44, and with transitions etc... the time was altered a bit. Hopped on the bike and went to do the 2 loop course on Marine Dr. Great way for me to sight see some of the UBC campus, as I had never been there before. The bike was fast, but cold- with a nasty headwind coming back up Marine Dr. Couple nice climbs in there aswell. Back into T2, I had some technical difficulties in the form of frozen fingers! I couldn't get my hands to work to tie up my shoelaces (I went and bought the quick pull laces after the race). Started the run and by 1km I fell into a good rhythm and cruised to the finish with a second run around 21:07 according to the chip time. Overall it was a great day and I am proud that I finished! Results: 1 AG (the only one), 2nd overall female and 12th overall in the field. My dad and I spent the rest of the day exploring the ubc campus, and gawking at all of the amazing old houses!

Seeing as I am sicker than a dog this week and my foot is still sore, I am going to take some time to heal and hopefully I will be back and healthy by saturday- that's the plan anyways!

Time to crack down on calculus and ace my second midterm tomorrow, and after that, only one more midterm to go! Things are going by so quickly, with just over a month of school left it's hard to believe that my first year at SFU is almost over! I've found living arrangements with a team mate and another grad student on a house in coquitlam, very close to Mundy park (which is perfect for practice!). The landlady's husband is a contractor, so the place has just been redone, furnished with brand new appliances, and it is also furnished with actual furniture, so I wont have to buy a bed, etc. I will be moving in just before school starts, so around the second weekend of may- which will give me a nice break from city life and a chance to unwind back at home for a couple of weeks.

tomorrow is march

where has the time gone? Tomorrow will be march 1st! School seems to be zooming by quickly, and I feel like I am struggling to stay afloat right now (blogging doesn't help things). This coming week and next are my "hell weeks". The onslaught of quizzes and midterms begins tomorrow with a psych quiz, followed by a chem midterm wednesday night (yikes!) and a kin midterm thursday morning and a psych quiz thursday afternoon. Next monday my chem 126 lab midterm (yikes yikes!!), a math II midterm on wednesday, and the following tuesday a psych II midterm. I hope I haven't forgotten any! I've been spending my time in West Mall studying, but I still feel unprepared for chem/kin for this week!

I other news, training has been going great! Logged two hard weeks, and I am cruising into an easy week for my UBC Duathlon this weekend. Knocked 17s off my mile time from two weeks ago, and I am just about sub 6! The feet are finally injury free and I am feeling great!

Here are some pics from my outside ride on wednesday- it was beautiful and sunny but freeezing cold!

IWBMATTKYT

I will beat my ass today to kick yours tomorrow.

Man I love those sufferfest videos! Just the right amount of taunting and ego bashing mixed with a great hard workout- good enough to fog up the windows of my little room! Training seems to be going very well, and I am finally getting happy about where I am in regards to my current fitness level. My track workout on tuesday consisted of: 1xmile, 6x400m, 6x tempo 100m. Brutal. But, I improved upon my mile time by 20s- now that's what I call progress!

My 12k race this past weekend went smoothly. I went into it with the mindset of just running to see what I could do- no goals or expectations (well... I really wanted to break 1hr, but I wasn't going to kill myself to do it) and I came out with a very positive experience. Great, rolling, hilly challenging course- beautiful scenery and great volunteer action! And to top it off I ran a 3min 20s personal best! New 12k time of 56'56. The best part was that my 5k/10k splits were faster than what I have previously raced this past year! I went through 5km in under 23min and my 10k mark was right around 45-46min- if it wasn't for those damn hills my total time probably would have been even faster. Overall, I left the race feeling positive about my abilities and feeling happy that training is finally paying off!

With another race less than a month away I am beginning to gear up for my triathlon season. I have a feeling that this will be a good year. I've been biking on the trainer wednesdays and fridays doing the sufferfest workouts, and swimming wed and friday mornings as well. Today, I added another swim in the morning, as I am hoping to swim 3-4x a week. If I want to get good- I need to put time into the pool! I plan on adding another bike a week to make it 3, but just a spin- not a hard core workout. My running mileage is slowly increasing after having done two long runs of 1hr30min, and two of 1hr15min. Feeling confident about successfully completing a half marathon in may.

Just to put it down on "paper" here is what my weekly workout schedule is going to look like:

Mon- off

Tues- SFU track team workout (intervals, high intensity)

Wed- a.m swim, afternoon cycle

Thurs- SFU track team workout (hills)

Fri- a.m swim, afternoon cycle

Sat- a.m SFU track team workout (intervals), swim in afternoon

Sun- a.m long run (70-120min), evening cycle (easy)

Time to hit the books for one last quiz before reading break! Home in 4 days- yahoo!!

Vacation(ish) Time

I am going to Nanaimo next saturday! It's time for a vacation, and the chance to explore a new place! Heading out on saturday, taking the horseshoe bay ferry to Nanaimo and then seeing Cassidy!!! I've never been to Nanaimo before, and from what I've heard, it's a beautiful place- and a beautiful place to race! On sunday I am going to race/run the Cedar 12km, my first race of 2011. Hopefully this will be a good first race back, given it is a spur of the moment idea (I decided to race it today) I think that I can taper back my intensity this coming week to be prepared to run the race... goal: under 60min. I am really excited to get out of my "rut" and I think that this trip/race will be just the trick! Check out the website here: http://www.bastionrunning.ca/index.php?p=1_2_Cedar-12-k

In other news, home in two weeks! Cascade hwy here I come!

Cheers!

rut

once again it's raining here in burnaby, and it is ugly. After living atop burnaby mountain for 5months now, I still have the feeling of dislike for the city. I know that SFU isn't the city- in fact it is quite removed and very isolated, but I just can't get the fact out of my head that I don't like it here. Maybe I am in some bad head space today- but I am not a city person. I want to be in a place where I can ride my bike without fear of being killed by traffic and where I can run without worry of freaks in the bushes wanting to rape/murder me. I want a more relaxed lifestyle where people aren't hustling around from one place to the next- always in a rush. Honestly, the 145 bus to Production station and the skytrain give me a huuuge headache! I guess all I can do is count down the time until I am out of here and living where I want to be, probably the kootenays or maybe canmore (I like the atmosphere there). Almost 1/4 done, and three weeks until reading break and home.

I guess I just need to vent and get out the negative.

Back into the swing of things

I am back at uni and ready for everything that 2011 brings! The best way to start that off is, of course in my fashion, by breaking things. At circuit practice this morning I managed to break a hurdle. I jumped over it, it fell and hit my heel and then split in two. What luck?! Oh well, the rest of my a.m was great: said goodbye to my dad at seven, hit the pool (for only 1200m because the guard was 45min late) and hit the hurdle in circuit. With the first official practice of the new year I am feeling pretty good, so I put down the 3000m for my first indoor track event that is on the 15th in Seattle. I am nervous to say the least. I don't think I am ready for track yet- as I am not up to speed (literally). I might compete in this one and then redshirt and train for the rest of the season to really get good so I don't make a fool of myself! Decisions, decisions.

In other racing news, I am pumped to do the UBC Duathlon in two months on March 6th. The team will be at Indoor Nats, so that will be the perfect time for me to try my first duathlon! I am super excited! I plan to scatter some other triathlons throughout june, july and august- and possibly run a half marathon sometime in there to prepare me for 2012 because.... I am going to do a 70.3!!! Probably the Calgary 70.3 on august long. I figure why not? I will be 20, and that's the perfect amount of time to get myself ready. Plus I should get serious about it, because I will probably be registering for it sometime this year!

Lastly, before I go and have a nap- thanks to everyone who was a part of my Christmas/New Years/Winter Break celebrations! I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life!

Cheers and best of luck in 2011