Yesterday my training buddy said to me, “you know, you should really sign up for Ironman Coeur d’Alene that Trevor and I are doing so that we can train together over the winter.” I replied with, “yeah, but I really like Ironman Canada.” But after some thinking, I thought, “it WOULD be nice to have a summer since it’s on the 21st of June.” So i talked to Luke and he was into it, even though for him to get holidays would be difficult. So I went on the website today and signed up. Just like that. I just clicked on some buttons, put in my credit card number and VOILA! here we go again. Let the good times roll!

This morning I slept in through my run and decided that I would go for a run this afternoon. To ensure this happens, I’m going to reward myself with an awesome vegan peanut buster parfait. Good ol’ soy ice cream, peanuts, and a vegan chocolate sauce all in layers will be perfect to top off a nice 1-hour run. Tonight I’m mountain biking with the gals, which I’m excited about.

I move in merely two days and I’m excited and sad about it. I’ve lived in my current house for almost three years and I know lots of my neighbours. I’m sad to leave my beloved neighbourhood and neighbours. However, my new neighbourhood and house is awesome. The house will be the first home that I own and my new neighbourhood is very vibrant and full of kids. A new chapter of my life will be opened, but really, I just want to get it over with and get back to training!

While picking up my race package on Thursday night, I noticed some lonely wetsuits hanging up on the Saskatoon Tri Club clothes rack. So inquired and discovered that they had been given to the club and they were selling them at an extremely low cost. It was mentioned to me that a new wetsuit would probably be a good idea, considering mine is a waterskiing wetsuit from many years ago that I acquired for free from an acquaintance of mine 6 years ago. I tried it on and the size small Orca Sonar wetsuit fit me perfectly!

Just having my new wetsuit made me feel like I was going to thrash on the swim. Between that and a fight I had with my spouse (he says I swim faster when I’m angry), I had my best swim EVER. The water, despite being chilly, seemed warm in my new wetsuit and it was way more buoyant than my other wetsuit. During the swim, I drafted the whole time, which definitely helped conserve energy. My partner couldn’t believe it was me emerging from the murky waters of Pike Lake in the top third of the group – he almost didn’t get a picture in time!

Once in transition, I saw my training buddy only a few seconds ahead of me, but I heard other people being announced as they came out of the water. I was astonished. Friends, training buddies, and fellow triathletes that usually beat me out of the water by MINUTES were behind me. So I got out of transition in a hurry to try to keep my lead, but I knew it would be short lived.

I love to bike so much and this race day was particularly wonderful for the bike. There was almost NO WIND and on the prairies that is almost unheard of. It was a partly sunny day with the temperature in the low 20s and I had my best swim ever. There was no way it was going to be a bad bike ride. My buddies that were behind me after the swim quickly caught up to me and passed me, but in the end they weren’t far in front of me. My bike was also a personal best for this race.

Onto the run. Oh, the run. After a cold swim and my feet being tensed up on the bike for over an hour, I could not feel my toes for the first quarter of the run. I walked up a hill because I wasn’t sure if I could make it without the feeling in my toes. Apparently, I wasn’t the only person with that problem. My run was on par with previous years and I ran 10km in 1 hour, as per usual (actually I was a little under an hour, but not by much).

Here is a comparison with this year to other years:

*Note: last year they called the race off due to lightening after the bike.
**Note: Bike only stats:
Distance: 39.84 km
Time: 1:22:15
Average Speed: 29.1 km/hr
Max speed: 42 km/hr

I learned that despite me being faster, so was everyone else! All-in-all, I am very pleased with my race. I mean, how can I not be? I beat my personal best by 15 minutes! Maybe getting mad really does make me faster.

I have noticed over the last couple of years of hard training that when my stress levels are high, I am not motivated at all to train. Generally, after I train I feel much better, but it is so hard to get out and do it. Now that I have made this connection, hopefully it will help me to keep my training levels up no matter what my anxiety and stress levels. I can’t help but wonder, though, if it is a body or mind response. Or maybe it’s both… they are connected, after all. I am going to try very hard to get on the bike today, or maybe do a brick workout of bike-run. That would be good.

This morning my alarm went off at 5:30 and I cringed. “Already?!?” I asked myself. I contemplated not going to the gym and pool, but I knew that my training buddy would be waiting for me. I contemplated calling her, but if I’m going to be awake enough to look for her number, call her, have a conversation about how tired I am, and then lay down again, I might as well go to the gym. Am I ever glad I did! Despite my puffy eyes and tired body, I made it through the weights and then the swim workout. How did I ever do this without my training buddy? Oh yeah… I didn’t! My training buddy used to be a weight lifter, so she has mad skills and is totally buff. However, she doesn’t like getting into the pool – so we inspire each other! I love getting into the pool and slicing through the water doing intervals. And since we are both training for Half Ironman coming up in 2.5 weeks, it’s a good match. We are also both doing Ironman next summer. I foresee many good things coming from this.

Today we worked on shoulders and arms and then worked it out in the pool. Last week I thought my arms would be dead after lifting weights, but they weren’t. They didn’t feel any more fatigued than any other time I do intervals. I’m going to talk to my coach about good workouts to do after half an hour of doing weights. Today our pool workout looked like this:

300m warm up
2 x 200m Speed intervals /r4′
500m pace
200m cool down
= 1400m

After the race on Sunday, it felt good to get in the pool. Tonight I’m going to run and tomorrow I’m going to get on the bike. Friday is my day off and Saturday I get to lift weights all day because I’m moving!

The race report from this weekend is coming up.

This week is the first of my peaking cycle and it’s going… well… it’s going all right. I was doing great last weekend with a swim-bike brick on Saturday at Pike Lake, where my first race of the year is held. On Sunday I did a 13-km long, slow run with my new training buddy, but skipped out on my short swim that night due to exhaustion.

Today I got back into the pool; my training buddy and I did some weights and then hit the pool for a couple of 500m pace intervals with a warm-up and a cool-down. It felt pretty good and I drank my Vega smoothie after (note to self: don’t buy the berry flavour… yuck!).

My new Garmin 405 is serving me well and I love plugging it into my computer to get the results of where I’ve gone, how far I went, what my pace was while running, and what my heart rate was at. I feel like I’ve stepped into a new realm of training. I am definitely going to be ready for training for Ironman for next year. All I need now is a tri bike…. )