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