Sometimes life can see so complicated – work, relationships, nutrition, and training. Then there’s housework, bike maintenance, massages, chiropractor, movies, music, volunteering, and life stuff that just pops up. Right now it all seems so simple to me. There have been times over the past few years when doing this much really did overwhelm me, but right now I’m taking it all in stride. Maybe, just like my running stride, it gets longer with more practice and I have learned to adapt.

For instance, tonight I went running with a running group. I haven’t run with this group for at least a year and it felt really good to be running with people again. Generally I run alone, but I think I am going to incorporate this one into my routine. Wednesdays used to be my day off, but I think I am going to make Fridays or Sundays my day off… or I will switch it up depending on the week. Flexibility is really important in my training plan.

Simplicity has come to me with making things easier to do. For instance, I have one bag for my swimming gear. My gear stays in that bag (except when it is hanging out to dry), along with my gym pass. This means that I never have to worry about forgetting anything and it is brainless for me to throw my gear in my bag and go. Not having to think about this makes my life easier. Also, I have arranged my clothes so that I have one area where my workout clothes are. It is all right there and I never have to go rummaging around in my drawers trying to find my running pants or a wicking t-shirt.

Food is a whole separate issue.  I would like to say I have this one all figured out, but I find that I have to adapt to each changing season and as my job gets busier, my energy to cook declines. This is the case right now. However, I made a pact with myself that I was not going to eat cereal as my supper anymore. So tonight I came home after my run completely starving and scrounging around for food. I threw together some ingredients that I had around and I made a wonderful supper of soba noodles (generally used for soup) with some fried tofu, Spike seasoning, red onion, red peppers, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and Braggs. It was delicious! It really did hit the spot.

Body maintenance is another area that can complicate one’s life. However, with the flexibility of my job, I generally take Friday afternoons off. This makes for an opportune day to get massage or chiropractor sessions done. Not everyone can do this and I am grateful for it, but I think that if a triathlete is in a job and their employer understands that a happy triathlete is a healthy triathlete, they will understand that a little flexibility will go a long way in the work that their A-type triathlete will do. I have committed to myself to have two massage sessions a month while I am training hard and two chiropractor sessions a month. I am going to go to the local massage therapy school and book appointments so that it is more cost-effective (and thus less stressful) and go to my regular RMT every six weeks. I am curious to see if the massage gives the results I’m hoping for.

So just as I am simplifying the complications in my life, I am going to complicate it again in May. I’m getting a puppy! My standard poodle and I are going to train together (not right away, though) and spend a lot of time together. He will likely be my only friend for a while. Again, thanks to my flexible job, I’m taking a week off of work to help the little guy get acquainted with the house and a schedule. We will become great friends while training him to sit, lie down, stay, heel, go to the bathroom in one spot, and many more tricks hopefully. Meanwhile, I will get to train when I need to leave him in his crate for a bit of time a few times a day.

Perhaps having my workouts laid out so nicely by my coach helps me with making my training more simple. All I have to do is figure out when I’m going to do the workouts and then do them. That’s easy, I can do that. And I will.

Last week I had a familiar feeling in my foot – a bad familiar feeling. A feeling of pain. A feeling not unlike the pain I had last summer after Ironman, but even before that I felt it a few years back when I was a young triathlete. A young triathlete who over-trained and got a stress fracture in her foot. It was a long and arduous recovery process. I didn’t run for 4 months, but I sure did swim and bike! However, last week I felt a similar pang. It was in a different spot and the pain was not as bad as the peak of my previous injury, but it was bad.

So I have changed my training plan to be less about running and more about swimming and biking. I’m going to get new running shoes this week and see how they feel. If the pain is still there by next week, I’m going to see a physiotherapist (which is covered under my beloved health plan).

Today I had an intense swimming session doing intervals of 50m, 100m, and 200m with rests in between. My arms felt like jelly for the rest of the day and even tonight they are sore. I guess that means it was a good workout. My 50s have definitely gotten a lot faster, my 100s and 200s it is harder to tell because I really run out of steam after 50m. With the 200s, I literally felt like I could not pull any harder than I was. Doing all of these swimming intervals have really taught me a lot about the importance of abdominals in swimming, which tells me that I probably wasn’t doing it right before. I was trying to pull without anything to pull against – no wonder I didn’t go anywhere fast! Now that I know, I am working hard at it. I am so glad to have my coach to give help me out with this stuff.

Oh, and flip turns are so hard, but so good! I discovered through the video at Beginner Triathlete that I was doing them slightly wrong. So I have corrected that and am getting better at my timing. It’s hard to do flip turns while doing intervals because I run out of breath. However, as a slightly masochistic triathlete, it feels kind of good at the same time.

After all of this training, I am truly exhausted by the end of the day. It is time for bed!

While commuting to work by bicycle, it occurred to me that I have accumulated a skill I never even thought about as an actual skill before: the “farmer’s snot.” Apparently, in some places they call it the farmer’s blow, but it all means the same thing: A farmer’s snot is blowing one’s nose onto the ground by plugging one nostril and blowing the other one as hard as you can; then one repeats this with the other nostril. The result is barely any snot left at all – just enough to wipe on the back of one’s hand/bike glove (in this case).

Today on my commute, I practiced this skill many times and discovered I could do it almost perfectly, all while riding precariously on icy roads. Now that is skill, my friends!

According to my friend, Wikipedia:

During cold weather, the cilia which normally sweep mucus away from the nostrils and towards the back of the throat (see respiratory epithelium) become sluggish or completely cease functioning. This results in mucus running down the nose and dripping (a runny nose). Mucus also thickens in cold weather; when an individual comes in from the cold, the mucus thaws and begins to run before the cilia begin to work again.

I thought this was all very good to know as I always wondered why my nose ran so much when it was cold, and since my nose runs a lot anyway when I bike, it runs even more when it is cold out. Imagine something that runs so much and never gets anywhere!

Tonight I have committed to myself that I am going to get on my trainer for at least an hour – that’s two episodes of Sex and the City. I am also going to do some yoga as well. I’m officially back on the wagon!

We say here that if March comes in like Lion, it goes out like a lamb. According to the Weather Guys at USTODAY.com this is the origin:
<i>The phrase apparently has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb. It has to do with the relative positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month</i>

If this phrase is true, then March came in like a lion. Yesterday we held a “Snowbowl” mountain bike race where we biked and ran our bikes through the snow. It was a lot of fun, but it was very windy – winds up to 50km/hr. The winners of the race got a snowflake “medal” and some [vegan] chocolate. I love how great my mountain bike cohorts are about my being vegan; they are very good about being as inclusive as possible and I appreciate that immensely.

Last night, after a couple of beers with my fellow racers and food, I crashed at 9:30. I had plans to go out dancing, but I wanted nothing more than to sleep. Since I was the race organizer, I spent 2 hours before the race setting the course with a couple of other club members. The “race” was very informal and was more of an excuse to get people out to ride in the snow together.

This morning I awoke completely refreshed and was glad that I had decided to stay home and go to bed. I got up to go for a run, but was very surprised [again] at the wind. While yesterday was pretty chilly due to the wind, today was downright nasty. This is the current weather:

It is -30 with the wind! COLD. This meant that half of the run was very cold and the other half was pure joy to run with the sun shining down on me. It took me 45 minutes to do my 6km loop by the river and it felt pretty good for the most part. I really need to get new shoes, but am trying to hold off for a couple more weeks. I’ll see how this week goes. This afternoon I’m going to get a swim in with my partner in crime – he really likes to sit in the hot tub while I swim my laps. This week’s schedule is going to focus on increasing intensity in my run. We’ll see how that goes. According to my coach, I’m supposed to work hard and not get scared when it starts to hurt – just keep pushing. Yikes! It’s a good thing it feels so good afterwards.