Christmas wrap up

Time flies when you actually have time off.....

We made it through Christmas relatively unscathed. No major dramas and overall we both kept up our training and other than the odd incident with some cookies, things have been good in the food dept. We spent the 23rd and part of the 24th with my family and then headed home for a bit of running around. I did a 9km run on the 24th and then settled in for some homemade KungPao chicken and movies. Nothing says Christmas like "The Hangover".

The 25th the husband and I exchanged stockings before heading out to visit his family and I am sure he surpassed our budget. I ended up with an amazing necklace, gift cards, running tights and a wicked new purse amongst other things:

The 26th was the Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Miler. This was a great race...I loved it. It certainly helped that the weather was great and how can you not like a Snowman medal at the end?

(Blogger insists on uploading Frosty sideways so be it..I am too tired to fight)

Since I got on my long run in on Saturday with the 10miler, I didn't have to run with our group on Sunday. Hapenstance would have it that my favorites stores were having their sales on the Sunday...Here's my loot:

Matt&Nat Samsura wallet

RockNRepublic jeans (50% off!)

Michael Kors leather gloves

Beverly Friedman 'corset' pumps

Franco Sarto tartan flats

Michael Kors 'pumps'

No rest for the wicked which is fine with me - last night was spin and core, tonight a tempo run, Wed weights and spin etc.... I love it though and am glad I am not letting holidays get in the way of Health for a change.
Hope everyone had a great almost end to 2009!

Whirly Twirly days

Since I am on vacation, I had to ask the Husband was day it was today as it has been busy, busy of late. I woke Saturday feeling sore from Friday's awesome run and was relishing the fact that I was going to enjoy my off day when I realized that I had to go to spin/core as I missed it on Monday. Not gonna lie - it hurt and was hard. In core, we also added in wall squats and a bunch of pushups on the ball. My triceps still hurt.

Sat night we went downtown to watch the Olympic torch. Corny...but it was cool. The only good shot we got was the one of my bb:

Apres torch, we drove around to admire some of the awesome Christmas lights and then out to dinner at our favorite foodie restaurant: Blacktree. So good as usual...

Sunday was a scheduled 12 km run but I extended it to 13.5km just because I have a 16km run on Boxing Day and was starting to panic a bit. Fingers crossed the race goes like Sunday's run as it was a lot of fun and felt great.

Today was our first day off. I of course woke up at my scheduled wake up time of 5:30 but forced myself back to sleep until 7am. We got a few things done but have an arm length list to do tomorrow. Tonight was spin which killed my legs and core..which killed my abs, obliques etc.

Sleep - feel free to camp at my place tonight.

T Minus 8 hrs....

..and finally some vacation time! I am off from tomorrow until the 28th but I only work the 28/29th and then off again until Jan 4th. Amen...it has been a long year and a nutty few months.


This week has just felt so so thus far:
Monday: worked late so no spin but I did get in some yoga
Tuesday: pretty good Zone5 tempo run. It was brutally windy on the way back so that was unpleasant to say the least. Winter weather, you can go away now...
Wed: Spin class - I somehow managed to tweak something in my neck which caused a ton of pain down my trap and into my rotator cuff. I used my physio appt to have him work on it but it still felt like crap. I worked hard in spin but was just feeling like dung.
Thurs: a CRAPTACULAR run. I could not breathe at all. It seemed to get better near the end of the run but in the end it was a 8.5km run that just sucked. It was cold but not too bad out but when we got home I wanted to ice my shoulder so I just felt gross and chillled the rest of the night. The husband was nice enough to make us a decaf non fat chai latte....take that SBucks.


The highlight of the run was getting to see this house:
These people do this every year. You can actually go into their backyard where there have even more lights and Christmas display. As I ran by last night, a bus had just pulled up to go in.

This morning I am heading to the gym. My shoulder/arm/neck actually feels great this morning so it shows that physio and icing works. The husband is on his vacation now ... and there have been promises of HIM cleaning. Dear sweet Christmas angel...please fulfill this wish!

EDIT: Busted out an amazing 9km tempo run that ended up being Zone3 so last night's run will count as my Zone1. Phew...feel better already.

glasses, pseudo-rest day and 11km

After Thursday night's run, I didn't hold out for a great run on Friday afternoon. I eeked out about 7km and threw in the towel as I was tired. The husband and I enjoyed a great dinner and then crashed pretty early.

Saturdays are my rest day. Our coach really wants us to focus on fully resting these days...not even doing yoga. So what did I do?

-made muffins

-did all of the laundry

-finished off the Christmas cards (may have to take out a mortgage to post them)

-went for a stroll...cause I wanted to

-went out for lunch and ended up getting new glasses (on order) and new arms for my glasses:

-made approx 50 arugula/goat cheese stuffed ravioli for a team party on Sunday and crashed hard.

Woke up on Sunday feeling kind of crappy actually on the way to run club. There is a slight cold going around our house so I have been fighting it a bit. Iwas just going to go out and whatever happened on the run, happened. I ran with the husband at a very slow pace for approx. 2.5 km, sped up and ran with another group for another 2.5 km and then started out at race pace which is the top end of my Zone 1. It had started raining a bit and gotten colder by this point but it ended up being awesome. I finished the 11km run knowing I could have kept going if I had wanted to and just felt great. I was all giggly after. The rest of the day was spent helping out with the triathlon team's mega training day and a team party last night which was a lot of fun though we were home by 10pm.

It's still a school night you know.

Hello Winter - Profanity included

Fair warining..there is profanity in the next few sentences so feel free to skip this post if this offends...

Last night was a Zone3 'tempo' 60 min run. It was -18 degrees Celcius with the windchill (-.4 F) and a million km/hr wind. There were 10 hearty souls that showed up so off we went. It wasn't pretty but I made it for the full 60 minutes and pretty much kept up my Zone3 paces - except when the wind was basically pushing me backwards...that counts as resistance training right? The last 10 min of the run (cool down) had a bit more walking in it than I would have wanted but my heart rate skipped up a bit high so I just wanted to get it back in check.

There was the following chant that occurred a couple of times: "oh-my-fucking-hell-what-the-fuck-am-I-doing-out-here-I-can't-feel-my-damn-legs-or-ass-shit". I probably said a few other F*Bombs in there for good measure. I think I am going to have to try and source out a pair of running 'longjohns'. I have some base layers but my legs/butt are just so cold by the end of a run. I did get a pair of Peak Performance pants that I totally forgot about that would have probably been perfect last night but I am still not quite winter-organized yet.

Apres stretching, I hustled home and hit up a hot shower...I don't care if 'hot' isn't good after a run..my legs were numb. Post shower I bundled up and even wrapped myself in a blanket for a bite of dinner. We tried something new last night - President's Choice Thin Crust "Toppings First" Spinach, chicken and cheese pizza. I am not a huge pizza fan and the husband is picky but this was pretty good actually. I had a 2 slices....and a glass of wine. It was awesome.

Tonight is a session at the gym and I am looking forward to some spacing out on the treadmill and then home to the husband. Tomorrow is a rest day...and I am baking again. Sunday is long run and I am staying after to help out with the husband's Du/Tri Team as they are going a mega training day. I am providing food and moral support.... :)

Have a great less chilly weekend!

I forgot what being back "in training" was like

I love being back into a full run/spin/core/watch-what-you-eat-schedule it but I am tired.
Monday: spin+core and I had physio. Spin was tough. My goal is to work hard in these classes and suffice it to say, I did. I had serious coma sleep that night.
Tuesday: Zone5 ("Tempo") run with the group. It was tough...I almost hurled at the end of the third interval. Like serious hurl and when you had sweet potato soup only a couple of hrs before, it would not have been good for anyone. (hope you enjoyed THAT visualization)
Wednesday: spin. Same as Monday - worked hard. Our spin classes are fun right now as there are a ton of people in them and the Triathlon team does their bike training at almost the same time as us so it is inspiring.
Tomorrow night is our 60 min Zone3 run. The wind better die down or else we will be running in place.
I'm not sure what I did before I started all this training. Apparently I sat around on my ass a lot.
I have official set my race schedule for 2010 so I am excited and a little barftastically scared.
Dec: Boxing Day 10 miler
March:

• Chilly Half Marathon - GOAL RACE - as in don't blow it and make your time goal!
• Around the Bay 30km - 30km...oh my god

May: Flying Pig Half Marathon. I cannot wait to get their logo shirt that says: "Get your Oink on". Told you I was easily amused. Don't even get me started quoting the Simpsons or Family Guy....

Challenges, Christmas Tree, Cookies, Cats

Challenges: After Thursday's tough Zone3, it was a tough go on Friday but I eeked out a 7km run and some stretching. It wasn't pretty though. Sunday was a very chilly 10km run. I am specifically trying to NOT overdress like I usually do so it wasn't too bad though as usual, my butt was cold. I may have to fashion a girdle out of those pocket hand warmers in the dead of winter.


Christmas tree: is Up!
(notice a very weary cat in the bottom left corner)


I love our tree as there is no rhyme or reason to it - i.e. no theme just decorations we have been collecting or had given to us:


Our Angel that the husband bought when he was working at a bank when we first got married.


My dragonfly ornament


The husband's Winnie the Pooh ornament he's had since he was wee. He is a bit worse for wear after one of the cats attacked and hid him a few years ago.
















One of our many Seagull pewter ornaments. This is Santa laying his finger on the side of his nose to go up the chiminey - we think it looks like he is picking his nose.

There is more than one of the these on the tree.

Cookies: I don't usually bake but busted out about 7 dozen cookies on Saturday.....at one point I had both ovens on the go and more of a mess than you can imagine. The cats were freakin' out a bit at this point. I have pretty much given all of them away except for what is left here:

Milk chocolate sugar cookies along with TollHouse cookies and Cranberry/Pistachio biscotti.

Overall, they were pretty good but I think I have baker's ADD - I totally lose interest halfway through and just want it to be done and get bored with it.

Cats: with the whirlwind of activities on Saturday, the cats were way out of sorts and seriously tired by the end of the day:

They are cute though...

How was your weekend?

A headband wearing kind of run

Yesterday was a yucky day - rained all day, cold, windy etc.. but I was still stoked to get out even if it was a Zone3 run. I changed my Garmin around to be able to display the current pace I am running at instead of the average but I still have to get used to this as I was all over the place last night. I have to be careful about dropping into the "inbetween" zones as they are really junk mile training. Overall it was a great 60 min run and I am happy I am not too sorry this morning..especially since I got back after the run, stretched, got home and wolfed down some food and then worked for 3 hrs on a work emergency. I really have to get my butt to the gym...but ... yeah....I'll go in a minute or so....

The run was made even more fun as my Bondi Band order came in yesterday. I love these things and I wasn't sure how they would actually look on me. They didn't more around when I ran and will actually be good post run for times when we go out to breakfast post run and I want to at least attempt to pretty it up a bit.

Post run, the band was pretty gross - kind of like bathing suit material but better the sweat is on the fabric and not me. Good thing I liked it as I got more than one:

The third one actually has sparkly sequins on it. Sparkly - I am all over that...

Busy December already

Our first clinic night on Tuesday was awesome - of course. There are a whole bunch of people this time out (including some brand new faces) with a lot of different target races so that will make the next 23 weeks interesting and exciting. I had a tough 45 min tempo run as my breathing sucked but overall it was great to be able to run 'fast'. (my fast does not equal your fast but I deal with it)

Of course, the first thing I did yesterday was fill out my calendar with our long run distances, when we start speedwork, hills etc. Yes, I plan and am a geek. There are some scary distances out there as I am following the marathon program until the Around the Bay race in March and then will step back until the 1/2 marathon in Cincinnati.

I made the decision to run the Chilly 1/2 marathon in March as our coaches' business is also the new sponsor for the race: Peak Performance. I was more than a little surprised that this race cost me over 90.00 total.....not cool. The full closure of Lakeshore Road better be worth it.

I had a serious struggle getting to the gym last night to do weights and spin but I haul my butt there and had a good workout. No point in trying to slack off now...the race commitments are paid for, the physio on the go and the drive there.

Goooooo Me!

(pulls out cheerleader pompoms and does a herkie):

Dec 1 - new clinic and confession time

I am so happy our clinic officially starts up again. The winter clinic tends to have more people in it so it will be nice to see faces I haven't seen all summer/fall. I am not looking forward to Zone 3 and all its barf inducing glory but am interested to see if I can hold a more consistent pace than I did over the summer.

So, confession time....while I have been doing pretty good on my workouts/running and rocking the fruits and veggies, I have not been dilligent in the snacking area. I am doing pretty good with the meal planning but in between and post meal, there is just too much extra calorie consumption going on.

The cats really have to stop buying baked lays, wine, cheese and other such treats.

I am not stepping on the scale just yet. My weigh in with be at our clinic on a proper scale Sunday morning. I really don't think I have gained very much. My clothes all fit properly but I am just not being accountable to myself from a food perspective like I should be if I want to be a lean mean running machine. So, no more stuff and no more buying as many lunches/breakfasts as I have been through the week. It isn't necessary. Of course I started off this morning by packing my lunch and no breakfast. D'oh! Oh well, Starbucks oatmeal (and a nonfat chai latte) hit the spot.

Phew...I feel better already. Snacking confession is good for the soul. (and sole)


I had another physio session last night. My knee is feeling better so we focused on the other issues the left side of my body is encountering, specifically hip and psoas. Pretty much the same issues as last time it flared up but just not as bad. I have some specific stretching and balancing exercises along with the evilness that is foam rolling but you got to do what you got to do I guess.


I am hoping that my order from BondiBand comes in tonight so I can wear one running and give you a review tomorrow.



I am loving my new hair cut but pretty much feel like a 10 yr old boy when I throw on a baseball hat for my usual run stylings. I am hoping these look as cute on me as they do on the models....cause you know I am thisclose to being Canada NTM. :)