Slacker!

Many apologies!

With all the craziness of the first week of classes this week has flown by. I am looking forward to having some time to catch my breath over the weekend.

The race was amazing! It was bloody hard, but amazing. I can't wait for next years season.

Before I start off telling about race day I want to thank a few people.

Thank you Tanner for all your support and wake up calls though the last few weeks. You are wonderful!

Thank you Kate for all your support, guidance and friendship. You made the ordeal much less scary. Thank you and big hugs!

Thank you to Dan and Ryan who came down to the race to cheer me on! You guys are so sweet. Thank you for your support and your friendship. Oh, and thank you for the celebration pints Dan!

I woke up at 05:00 on race day feeling pretty good, but my bed was comfy and Tanner was going to give me a wake up call in about a half hour and I had another alarm set for 06:00. Or so I thought. I went back to sleep. The next time I opened my eyes it was 07:19! The pre-race meeting was at 07:30.

Oh, stink...  Both my and Tanner's alarms were both set for Monday through Saturday. We both felt pretty silly.

I raced around the house getting this and that together, jumped straight into my trisuit then gym pants and  the shirt that came in my race package then made a quick protein shake, thinking back I should have made Tanner one too... He was driving like a lunatic form his place to mine.  I had just finished pulling all my gear out to the end of my driveway and getting my bike out when he pulled up. We threw it all in and raced off to Spruce Grove.

I had on of the flavoured energy gel thingys. It was nasty as expected, then I promptly forgot to do the things that I told myself to remember, i.e. attach my race number tot he race belt Tanner so sweetly picked up for me (Thanks Kate,) untie my runners and other such knowledge that Kate had passed to me.

We got there with plenty of time. I was in the third swim heat and they where running a bit behind. I drank a ton of water, stretched and nervously walked back and forth from the place all us ladies where gathered to where Tanner was standing.

In line I ran into a girl I swam with in Peace River, small world. My three lane buddies and I chatted a bit and discussed our times. We all thought we would be swimming between 15-16 minutes. I expected to slow down from my back injury. I was wrong. My swim time was exactly 15 minutes, I lost time as I had to pass each of my lane mates once, and got stuck behind two of them for a short while. I flew out of the water and skittered off through to the transition area. Tanner passed me a protein bar as I passed him. It was cold outside for being soaking wet!

This is the point where I realized I had forgotten to do most of the things Kate had told me. I voiced this to Tanner. I don't know if he laughed at me but I would have laughed at me.

The bike was long, and there was three mean hills. Girls on road bikes where flying past me, they all said nice things as they went by. "good job" "keep it up, good work" and such. The turn around point took forever to get to, but the way back seemed better, I actually passed people! Only two I think...

I couldn't feel my feel after the bike. It took about 2kms of running before I could. I shouldn't say running, it was more a death jog. After the first lap I thought I would die. Another racer grabbed my hand at one point and pulled me along for a bit, giving me a pep talk, it helped a little. Thank you who ever you were.

When I finally went over the finish line it felt amazing. Most every one had finished already. I came in 101st out of 124. With a total time of 1:47:39. Tanner was right there, so were Ryan, Dan and Dan's nice Girlfriend. I was so happy I didn't throw-up, someone did and the evidence was still there.

Dan took us for pints. It was awesome, I felt like rubber.

this is the link to the results
http://www.resultscanada.com/results.html

One more sleep...

Well this is it. I am tucked into bed and as ready as I will get. I picked up my race package today. My number is 386. 


I took it easy today. Went to acupuncture, then to Element Cycle to pick up the rage package. They had a few tri-suits on sale, I found one that fit perfect, thank gawd it was also marked down about %75. The T-shirts are actually pretty nice. I managed to get to the farmers market to grab some veggies, coffee and chocolate brownie goodness which somehow disappeared... 


Did I write about the gel power packs yesterday? They are odd things. Its like a almost liquid power bar. I hope they help tomorrow.


When I am finished I will shoot off an entry as soon as I can tomorrow. For now, its time for bed. 


Thank you all for your support. 


JW

Two More Sleeps

My nerves have started up hard today. My last day in the office full time before classes start and only one day left to prepare as much as possible for the race.

Physio went great yesterday and today. I went to the Kingsman Sports Therapy Clinic. Lauren helped me out a lot. I should send her a thank you note when this is all over. I will likely go in after the race to help recover.

I feel confident that I will be able to race, but as I said before, my times may suffer. I just want to finish it. I can work on times next triathlon season. For now I will just stretch and stretch some more. Oh, and drink tons of water. I think the flexerall is giving me dry mouth. I am always thirsty.

There is a running room in the Kingsman Centre. I went in today to grab some gel energy packs. I tried the chocolate one and it is pretty gross. I can handle a little bit of yuck though.

I have made a list of everything I need to do and have ready for tomorrow. I have to keep reminding myself to take a deep breath, relax my forehead and stop clenching my damned teeth already.

Race packages are ready and I am stoked to pick mine up tomorrow. I feel like I have so much to do tomorrow but I don't really. I need to relax. Woooosaaaaa...

It is bed time. I am very very sleepy. There is one last thing. I found a really fun theme for my next blog. but I am not going to tell you until Sunday night. Ha ha,

Hugs, good night

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Donuts, explosions and dilemmas

I want to eat an entire box of donuts. And by eat an entire box of donuts I do mean all to myself. If you want to eat donuts with me you will have to bring your own box.

Today was New Student Orientation Day at CFAC today. It was very busy on campus. We did manage to wrangle a few volunteers out of the day. As they came in to the SA office for their UPasses we would ‘encourage’ them to fill out the volunteer application. It was nice to see and hear activity in the halls. I suppose I should enjoy the relative silence that I will have tomorrow. It will be the last day for a long while that I will be able to just hide in my bat cave.

My back is much better today. I slept with a bunch of pillows behind me last night in a reclined position. It seemed to help quite a bit. My physio appointment also helped considerably. I am going again tomorrow after work. I am feeling pretty confident that I will be able to race on Sunday. I wont be able to train anymore, but at least I can still race.

A book bomb went off in my office. It is rather frightening as I am sure one would imagine an explosion of self-help and wellness books to be.  All the little teetering towers of titles make me feel both empowered and inadequate. It also makes me feel like a total slob who can’t keep her office clean. This isn’t so though. I just need help moving the shelves around. I am currently having an inner debate about whether or not I will call someone to help now or leave it until the morning… 

Ouch

Yesterday morning when I woke up I thought I was going to have to pull out of the race. One little voice of sensible me was saying “know know Jennifer, don’t push your body too hard blab blab la wonk wonk wonk…” it was promptly drowned out by the determine fierce voice of me saying “quit your wining and walk it off. You made a commitment and you will keep it.” Funny, determine fierce me sounds like a drill sergeant with smokers cough. Anyway… Whatever I did to back returned in full force. I called in to work and told them I wouldn’t be in until the afternoon when I finished up at the massage therapist. I also booked in to see my doctor again. I was about ready to find a chicken for a sacrificial ceremony to the gods of back pain and triathlons.

Getting a good night’s sleep seemed to really help last time so that is what I have been trying to do. Along with icing and switching from ice to heat. I brought a heating pad and bottles of frozen water to work to use throughout the day. The Dr. gave me a stronger dose of Flexural and an anti-inflammatory cream for my back. The pills take the edge off but mostly just make me into an even more absent-minded dolt than I usually am when I am in pain.

I should take this moment to thank and apologize to anyone you has had to deal with or work with me while I am either over tired, medicated, in pain or any combination of the above. You are all truly wonderful and patient souls.  

Back to business.

I discussed my situation with a few of my trusted advisors and have concluded that I will still race so long as my back improves by Friday. To avoid irritating the injury further I will not be training anymore. The most I will do is a couple mellow swims. My times will suffer a bit but at least I will still race. And as Kate mentioned, the slower one is on their first race the better one will beat their time next year. 

I go to physiotherapy tomorrow. I am also doing a few stretches. I am confident that I will be fully recovered by Friday. Please be confident with me… send some good energy my way.

Work was nice today. Our new manager started today. I gave the team a rough overview of my plans for the year and two of the things I was hoping to do where approved. The Breakfast Club, which Steph did last year as well, was approved and so was the fundraiser concert. The concert date has been pushed back a couple of months but that is okay because it will give me more time to prepare. Also, the larger timeline will give me time to volunteer with other events throughout the campus to gain some more experience. The other plans and proposals I have will be reviewed tomorrow.  

Speaking of tomorrow, we are doing the New Student Orientation (NSO) tomorrow and I will need to be at work a little earlier than usual. I best hit the sac.

Buenos Suenos

Sweet dreams

Six More Sleeps... eek

The weekend went well. I managed to get a little rest on Saturday before we left for Chestermere. We had a wonderful time with Kate and the crew, as always. I did, however, forget to take my back pills before bed and was in pretty stiff shape the next morning. Luckily I had a couple hours to recover from that silliness while Kate was in a hair appointment.

Kate called as she was on her way home and asked if Tanner could load up the bikes on the bike rack on her truck. Tanner being the helpful handy guy he is got right to it, then promptly broke the rack. Now in Tanner’s defense, the bolts were rusted pretty badly and the plastic bits had seen some weather.

Plan B. Lorrie grabbed Ashley’s truck and after a few “oh I just forget this or that I’ll be right back” trips, we were off to Strathmore and ready to give it our all.

We arrived all geared up to find that it was public swim… oh stink. We were lucky though. There were only two boys about nine-years-old there. We politely asked the young man who was on as the lifeguard if we could put a lane in and promised we wouldn’t be more than 15 minutes. I was surprised at how willing he was to accommodate us. Kate and Lorrie swam the rope down and then they wrapped the center rope that divides the deep and shallow sections around the lane rope. Fantastic.

Now after taking it easy all last week for my backs sake I was not feeling it in the water. Also, I left my music in the locker. I need to get used of not having it. And yes, I am very upset about that. The swim took 16 minute. Ouch. But we did stop a few times to discuss technique.

We hurried out of the water to get on our bikes. Kate gave me a few tips on transitions and I think I am convinced to get a tri-suit as soon as I can. I really don’t want to bike and run in my bathing suit.

The bike was a little rough with wet hair and the wind. The first 10k wasn’t to terrible, yet it did have a down hill slope to most of it. Coming back, yah, that was a lot of up hill. I am afraid. I was frozen stiff from the wind and the rain by the time we finished up. It didn’t help much that I also missed the turn to go back to the truck and kept on for a few hundred more meters. Silliness. The weather was pooh and we where cold and stiff, so we skipped the run.

It was great to have Kate and Lorrie to train with. They are awesome women.

This morning was a little hard. I was pooped. I had a hell of a time sleeping last night and getting out of bed I found that my brain was still asleep and not completely functional. I pulled my sorry butt to gym and a tried one of the techniques Kate suggested. Ten minutes on the bike, then ten on the treadmill. After a few rounds of that I hit the water and did my 750 in 14:50. Not my best time but better than Sunday. I’ll time tomorrow and aim for 14:00.

Nighty night.  

Oh My...Time is Ticking On By

Some days it is so easy to get out of bed and others, not so much.

Yesterday I was up and at it at 5:30 and on the spin bike a little after six. I didn't push myself too terribly hard but I broke a good sweat and I am feeling better and better about the bike leg part of the race. I am a little worried because I haven't been out to Spruce Grove to go along the paths and roads that the race will take us on. I still have a week, but I know as well as anyone that a week is a very short time.

Getting out of bed was near impossible this morning. My back is not letting me sleep well and although it has gotten better it still hurts quite a bit. I went to the massage therapist over my Lunch yesterday. It helped a bit but I think I need a chiropractor now. I don't have time to be hurt or get to fixing myself.

Tomorrow I hope to go through the full cycle at the gym. Afterwards I'll be heading down to Chestermere to train with Kate again on Sunday. I am very much looking forward to that. It is nice to have someone keep me motivated.

I am still unsure as to whether or not they will allow iPods or not, I am guessing not. I am a bit worried about not having music to keep me moving. Actually, to be quite frank, I am terrified of not having music to keep me going. I'll find a way to get by.

Other than that there is much to report on training.

Tanner dropped off my Office fish and he has settled in nicely. He has made some friends around campus already. Norm, the security guy, wrote a response to a note I wrote on the whiteboard hanging on my door. I wrote "in case of a fire please save my fish" Norm wrote back "I will" and signed his name underneath as such:

  Norm
(Security)

On that note, in the unlikely occurrence of my early demise I herby leave The Fish Who is Not Yet Named in the care of Norm, the campus security-man. Norm may also obtain custody of The Fish Who is Not Yet Named should I be deemed physically or mentally unfit to care for The Fish Who is Not Yet Named.

I should also mention here in that Ahkmed goes back to the custody of my favorite brother Travis and Mohinder goes to Miss. Hailey Hailstorm.

Now back to being serious... Oh wait I forgot about Deliah and Charlotte. Um, Travis will also be godfather to Deliah and Tanner to Charlotte. Should any one or more of those mentioned above choose not to accept their responsibility I leave the creature/s left without care to Melissa Mieir. (Sorry Melissa)

Okay, now that I have safely willed off all my babies on my blog, back to blabber.

I still have a ton of work to do at the campus and of my own stuff before school starts. I think The Fish Who is Not Yet Named needs to pick up some slack. I've been neglecting a lot of things while working towards my goals for the triathlon and while training for and settling into my campus job. I'm exhausted by 20:00hrs (8:00) each day. It's ridiculous. Last night I went to take a hot pan out of the oven with my bare hand. I stopped myself in time thank gawd. I kept opening the fridge or a cupboard and just stared into it because I forgot what I was looking for. I had to look at the five ingredient recipe eighteen times to complete it. I need a sleep in and lazy day but there is no time for such things. On the 6th however, I will turn my alarms and phone off and hide in my house watching movies and reading. It is going to be great.

Onward and Upward

The last week has flown by. My workout schedule has been a little wonky. I ended up taking Saturday off instead of Sunday. It turned out pretty good actually. I went for a 22km bike ride, on a real bike, with my friend Kate in Chestermere. It was awesome. I am not nearly as afraid as I was. Kate was wonderful. She is a triathlon pro and gave me some great tips. I will be heading there next weekend to train with her again.

The bike Kevin is lending me is ready. I will pick it up tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping to take it out tomorrow night, we will see how the day unfolds. I am done jumping campuses for the most part so that will help to regulate things a bit. It will be nice to settle into a routine again.

My back is still pretty cranky. It is a pulled muscle in the middle of my back on the left side. It feels like there may also be a pinched nerve. The Dr. prescribed some muscle relaxants which don't do much but make me really sleepy; however, maybe after a few days they will do more. I go back to the massage therapist tomorrow and Monday. For now I am taking it easy, I wont run again until Friday morning. I have been keeping my workouts to less intense sessions in the pool and on the bike. I need to step it up right away though, race day is creeping up fast.

I am settled nicely into my campus office. I have rearranged the furniture and ordered a new shelf. It is starting to feel more familiar. Classes haven't started yet but every now and then other staff pops in to say hi and introduce themselves. There are a few new students through here and there, but I only see them when I go down to the SA office. I have hit a few up for volunteering already. I hope I can get a good handful of volunteers. I might go downstairs to work for the next few days so I have access to some of the traffic.

Speaking of work though, I am still at the office and should mosey on. I'll be on here tomorrow night to write. Have a great day and be well.

Injury

Well I have pulled something in my back. I spent most of today at the Doctor's Office and Massage Therapist. I was given some muscle relaxants that are making me very very sleepy, so I am going to bed. I will catch up on this tomorrow at lunch.

I will be in the water by 06:00 tomorrow. Wish me luck...

The Eagles or the turkeys..?

Alegria Cirque du Solei was absolutely amazing! And so were our seats I must say. The time and effort that it must take to organize a production like that… it blows my mind. What blows my mind even more is what the performers in Alegria where capable of. Exceptional acrobatics, fire staff, comedy and acting. I can hardly wait to see another Cirque du Solei production.

The show may have been amazing but my sleep was not. I did get to the gym right at 06:00 and was in the water at 06:30. I hit the bike after my swim, intending to do a hard workout, but my right foot kept cramping up. It put a real damper on my workout and my morning. The past few days I have been feeling very good about the race. I build up some confidence and stamina and felt I would be ready to face the race, no problem. This morning felt like a rude awakening. What if I cramp up in the race? What if, what if, what if…

I had to snap myself out of the downward spiral thought pattern and fast! While sitting on a bench in the change room rubbing the bottom of my foot I revisited some of the reasons I decided to this.

While talking to my brother the other night a few things came to surface. We where discussing goals and motivations. Why do we choose to work so hard at some things and no on others? Is it because we are more passionate about some things, do we just dislike other things more or is it self-drive? If is self-drive does that make our goals selfish? Is it okay to be selfish about some things? Where do you draw the line?

I am a firm believer that you can’t help anyone else without helping yourself first. There is a good reason why you are instructed to put your own air mask on before helping others on an airplane.

Having self-driven self-gratifying goals can be selfish but it is not always the case. By bettering oneself one can bring others around them up and help them better themselves. Simple enough, right?

Most of the reasons I am doing this triathlon are selfish reasons; although, those selfish reasons are slowly evolving into broader reasons, which I will talk about tomorrow because I am falling asleep on my keyboard.

Eagles and Turkeys Continued...

I wish I had taken some notes when I was nodding off while writing this post, I had a destination in mind with my words, but the path I was aiming for is a wee bit foggy now.

I know that I was trying to illustrate that it is okay and in-fact important to take care of oneself first. Many of us try so hard to keep our friends, family and colleagues happy and leave ourselves as the last priority. This can lead us to feeling rundown, overwhelmed and even resentful, thus making us less productive for everyone, including and especially ourselves. I'm not saying that we should all blow everything else off until all of our own work, priorities and goals are complete, I am just saying that it is important to give yourself time each day to do a few things for your self.

Try giving yourself some alone time to reflect. This could be quiet relaxing time or time listening to music. Sometimes I will put on a new album and just putter around my house, or put on a movie and putter around my room. (I have a hard time sitting still...I go for long drives when I feel I need to sit still) reflecting can be anything that gives you a chance to take your mind off your responsibilities and tasks and gets you into an inner thought process. Some people meditate. I run or swim and I guess as of late I also bike. Do what ever refuels you as a person. What makes you feel alive and focused.

Set a goal, or goals, and make them a priority. Give yourself milestones for your goals. This will give help you stay focused. It will break up the goal into smaller chunks and give you a stronger sense of completion.

Have I made any sense of myself? I will come back and read it tomorrow. I hope I have clarified that having self driven goals is not as selfish as one might think when they are caught up in their web of everything. Self driven goals ground you and help you to take care of everything more holistically.

Recoup

I gave myself a recoup day today and only swam. My ribs on my left side are hurting and my knees are bit upset about yesterdays session. They'll live. I did keep my swim time under 15minutes again. So that made me happy. I've already noticed a difference in my muscle tone. That should keep me a little more motivated. 

Marlon is running a marathon this Sunday. It is something scary like 45km. That woman is tough!

Tomorrow is our last day of Training ar City Center Campus, then we are off to our satillite campuses. I am looking forward to getting started but I am expecting a bit of a hectic start. Leanne, our past campus SA manager is moving over to main campus. We have a new manager who will be learning with us. She’s great though.

This is a short entry as I am off to Cirque du Solei with Tanner. So excited!

Links

Kurt West Express This Friday.

Tickets will sell out, grab them now.

Give Em Hell Boys, Kurts West Express, Whiskey Wagon and More

The Kurt West Express

Learn more about Triathlon, Duathlons and Marathons in Alberta

http://www.triathlon.ab.ca/

Day Five

Today was awesome in all senses of awesome. I was at the gym in time for Spin Class, which oddly, didn’t actually happen. I was confused. I still did a pretty mean Spin workout though, 21km in 52 minutes. I need to get out there on a real bike though. I am sure it will be quite different.

After the bike I did a 5km loop in the treadmill in 28 minutes, again I am sure that time will be a little larger when there is not a belt moving below my feet forcing me onward. I credit most of my umff to the music though. When I have a good tune plugging on through my ear buds I can really give it my all. I should post my play list. I will have to see how I can do that without infringing on copyrights.

I may have given in a little too much today… I was running like a mad woman at pretty high settings. My knees are complaining. I will leave the running alone until Thursday I think. The Joint Solutions I am using are making a difference for sure though. I would be considerably more achy without them.

Turns out I did not miscount yesterday. I did my swim in 14minutes today. That made me so so so happy. I am slowly cutting out the breaststroke. Oh, I did hear back from the contact Elise at Iron Warrior about what the stroke requirements are for the swim. She said that any stroke is fine and that the event is fairly beginner friendly. That was nice to read. I can relax a bit. I forgot to ask about music though. I don’t know if I could push on without a beat in my ears.

It was a pretty productive morning. I did have to rush a bit to get to MacEwan training though, but it all worked out. I had time to grab some food and tea when I got there.

We had a great day at training too! The morning was all about events and the afternoon was marketing. I got a lot out of the presentations and exercises. Our group put together a real nifty plan for a Student Food Bank awareness event. We might even put it into action.

Our Events manager Craig Berry put on a great appreciation event and dinner for us after training today. It was really nice to hang out in a relaxed environment with everyone. I didn’t get to chat with everyone I wanted to but it was still really nice.

Oh I forgot to mention, Marlon, one of our managers also ran her first Triathlon this summer. It has been really nice to talk with her about training, fears and exceptions. There are so many great people on staff at the SA this year I am so excited to collaborate with other services and campuses on events and programs.

Thanks for stopping in. I’ll be back tomorrow. 

Day Four

Day Four…




The weekend was fabulous! Megan’s Birthday was Value Village formal. She picked me out an awful dress which I traded in last minute for something even more awful, a Hawaiian print halter top dress that I couldn’t even zip up! It was hideous. However hideous was the point. I zipped home and changed into something slightly less offensive before heading to the Fringe. We got Meg good and pickled. I hope she had a good time.



Sunday at Kurt and Lesley’s was wonderful. As always. I picked up Hayley on the way out and we had a fun drive listening to tunes and chatting. Dallas and Tory where out with the Kids, Ruth-Ellen stopped in Tim and Shelley where there with Marley and Kurt’s whole band was out with their friend Brian. The band rehearsed for Friday’s show, they sound amazing! I can’t wait to see them play at the Pawn Shop. I will post a link to their site tomorrow so you can all get tickets. We had a fantabulouse time, I didn’t want to leave, especially after we lit a fire and Hayley brought out her guitar. She is such a talented young lady.



Today was a big day. I was so certain that I was all prepared for my first day of training for the Life Style and Wellbeing Coordinator at MacEwan and for triathlon training at 06:00 sharp. I was up until 23:45 but I had two alarms set and Tanner was calling at 05:00. All my clothes, supplies and gear were set out, so I thought…



Even with Tanner calling and the two alarm clocks I still managed to sleep in. I ran around the house like a headless chicken trying to get sorted. After locking up and getting in my truck I realized I forgot my breakfast shake in the house. Lock up again, get in the truck I noticed my phone was not with me either. Back in the house…



“That’s fine, its all good. I’ll still have time for a swim and a quick jaunt on the treadmill.”



CBC 90.9 was playing awesome tunes and I was still, despite the scattered morning, in a positive mood. At least until I parked at MacEwan to realize that my purse, with my student ID and cash, was at home. Awesomeness. Not really.



CBC continued to play some good tunes. One of them being Don’t Let Your Feet Touch Ground by Ash Koley. Look her up. It’s a good happy tune.



I set off across the city to fetch my purse and get ready for my first day of training with the Student Association. I still had my Lunch hour to swim.



There are so many great people in the SA this year. A few new faces and few I know. I was sad to learn that Leanne, the SA Manager at the Center for the Arts, was transferring to City Center. Her replacement, Cadence, seems very lovely though. I am looking forward to a great year with this crew.



On the lunch hour I raced down to the pool for a swim. I either miscounted my lanes by 50m or kicked some butt today. My time came in at 14:15. I am not getting excited about that until I repeat those results.



Nighty night…

Race Package

I just called in to see when I can pick up my race package and it wont be ready until the Friday before the race! I am so sad. I hope I get a good number. Will they let me pick if the number is available? I want 35 or 53...

Day Three

Day Three

At 05:45 sharp, the man is always so prompt, Tanner phoned me for my wake up call (Thank you Tanner, you rock.) I managed to get my sleepy butt out of my bed. Looking in the mirror I pondered the challenge ahead if me. Get dressed, make a shake (without berries because I was a dork and forgot to pick some up, yuck), then find my way to a strange pool and facility half way across the city (the only one with everything I need that opens early enough on weekends.) Then a wonderful and fantabulouse idea crossed my mind. Go back to bed and go into MacEwan at noon when the pool opens. Brilliant! So that is what I did.

I even had time to make a real breakfast, a omelet scramble with lots of veggies for me and a scrambled egg for my housemate’s Dog. (Patrick if you are reading this I apologize for feeding Violet people food.)

Dressed in my spiffy new gym shorts and only slightly hideous running shoes I set off for the gym. I was determined to get a good and accurate time on the bike today. I failed at this. But wait, it was for a good reason. I was about 17minutes into my work out when the spin class instructor came around to ask people if they where interested in participating. I thought “Spin class? What I great idea.” Then promptly hoped off the bike I was on and set over to the special spin class bikes. Now I thought regular bike seat where uncomfortable, the fancy spin class bikes are horribly uncomfortable. But I pushed through. It was a good time. The young lady running the class was very good about teaching me the terminology, proper positioning and such. She also put us through a torture session of abs afterwards. It hurt but I might implement some of the things she showed us at home when I do abs. I will defiantly go back for more spin class torture. They have a class three days a week at 6:30. I could swim for 20minutes then get out in time for spin class.

The swim was great but my time could be better, 00:15:45. I need a stop watch or a water proof digital watch to time myself with to get more accurate times. I should also find out if I have to swim the whole thing freestyle or if I can do breaststroke too.

I took a break from running today. I’ll do a 5k loop on the treadmill Monday. My knee needs break. It is being a snively-pants.

It is my friend Megan’s birthday today and I am going out to Kurt and Lesley’s tomorrow. I’m a bit nervous about that. I don’t want to ruin all my hard work with beer. Also I need to be in the water, not just arriving at the campus, at 06:00 sharp on Monday. Training for the Lifestyle and Peer Support position starts early Monday morning. I will need my workout done before then.

Kevin is lending me his bike to use. I hope it is up to par. We are sending to a shop on Monday to get it fixed up. I should maybe call the coordinator of the race to ask some questions.

I am taking tomorrow off. I will likely still sign on to write something. Probably confessing that I caved and had a pint. 

Day Two

Wow, did 5:45 ever come quickly this morning! 

I must have miscounted my laps yesterday, I only shaved a minute off my time today swimming the 750m in 16 minutes. And this morning I was fresh and ready to go, yesterday I was exhausted. The bike wasn't as painful as I thought it would be; however, it did take me nearly 40 minutes to do the 20k and 35 minutes to run the 5k. I'm going to have to work on those times. I did had Basia Bulat on my iPod keeping me going. I'll post a link below.

The gym I work out at doesn't open until noon tomorrow. I know. Craziness. So if it is nice I might go do the actual course tomorrow morning. Weather permitting. We will see. 

I think that the hardest part of the next three weeks is going to be not drinking. I know, I know, stop laughing at me and take me seriously here. I may love my red wine but I can go three weeks. Right? I hope so. I'm suddenly three times more afraid. Someone remind me why I am doing this please.

After this morning's torture session I realized that my old beat up Brooks where not going to cut it. They are in pretty rough shape. It is a little sad how abused they are. 

While driving home yesterday I noticed that The Running Room on 109th is having a sidewalk sale. So, I went down to see what they had. They have a lot of hideous looking shoes. Hideous! And of course the most hideous pair where the ones that fit me best. Yup, they were white with a lot of neon pink and little neon blue. They were scary. I stood there for a good two minutes just looking at them. "These are some very pink shoes." I said to my feet more than once. The two young men helping me got a pretty good kick out of how much I really was not digging the pink. Finally one of them went to dig through the boxes to see if they had the same shoe in less hideous colours. I now own a pair of less hideous white, orange and grey Mizunos.

After all that fuss about pink I also picked up two pairs of running shorts with pink waistbands and stitching.  Hey, they were on sale dirt cheep.

If anyone has any training and or diet tips for me I would love to hear from you.

Have a great day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxrdNw_A1Jw

I'm up...

It took two phone calls from Tanner and three snooze buttons, but I'm up. I have my gym and pool stuff laid out and protein shake ready to go in the fridge. 

25 minutes to get to the pool...

Day One…

I'm not sure what the average times are for the Triathlon I'm running,
I'll have to find out. I swam the required 750m today after running the
required 5km. It was bloody hard! I even had a little break between to
drive to the pool. The swim took me about 17 minutes. I want that down
significantly. I forgot to time the run, sorry. I promise I won't let
you down next time.


I run and swim fairly regularly but not to this intensity. I never bike,
so I'm a little nervous about 20km of biking. I'll start my training on
a stationary bike tomorrow morning after my swim at 06:30. I know, I
know… those of you who know me are probably peeing yourselves laughing
and thinking, “yah right, as if Jennifer Wright is going to get up
before the crack of 10:00” but it'll happen. I'm on a mission! A mission
to get crazy-fit and complete my very first triathlon.


Those of you who don’t know me personally might be wondering why this is
such a big deal for me. There are a few reasons. As I mentioned earlier
I've not had much of a routine as of late and want, well feel, the need
to develop one. I also have some fitness goals I want to reach. I want
my nineteen-year-old body back, damn it! I know I won't get exactly
that, but I will get pretty darned close. I thought about posting before
and after pictures, but I'm not that brave.


The main reason I'm so excited to do this is because I can. Yup, that is
the biggy. Why is that the biggy? A few years back, I could hardly walk,
let alone run. I had an accident when I was welding and hurt my back
quite badly. On top of that, I was having the first and very severe
symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of arthritis that affects the
spine and lower back. It's a hereditary disorder. My father’s spine is
almost completely fused. I also had developed arthritis in my feet, I'm
guessing from a combination of the cooler temperatures in the shop,
heavy steel-toed boots and concrete floors. I was a mess. Every step I
took and every move I made was excruciatingly painful. I had to give up
my career in welding and move on to recovery, and train for a new
career. I sometimes needed two canes to walk even short distances around
my house. I was terrified of fusing up like my father did. The condition
I was in made me worry that I would never be able to do many of the
things I loved to do. Thank heavens I was mostly wrong.


Growing up, and into my early adult life I was a very active person,
particularly in the water. As a kid I played soccer, swam and was active
in martial arts. I also spent a lot of time hiking and fishing; anything
to be outdoors and active. I'll likely not be able to go back into
martial arts, at least not sparing. I can swim and run again, with care
of course. It’s great. I know there are people out there with more
difficult challenges, but this is mine and I'm grateful to have this
opportunity.


That being said, if I slack at all, and I mean at all, chew me out! I'll
be giving myself Sundays off training and blogging but that's all I'm
allowed.


I'll report back tomorrow to let you guys know how the bike thing goes.
Oh, and that 06:00 thing. Yikes!

Where have I been hiding?

I have been absent from the blog world for a while, for many reasons but mostly because I just wasn’t sitting still for very long. The past two years have been full of adventures around the world as well as here in my own province. There was also some school and work in between. I won’t be editing this blog heavily. Why would a professional writing student not be overly concerned about editing. Well, because I have enough bloody editing to do with work and school. So there. That being said feel free to point out glaring errors, I wont be offended, as long as you don’t over do it. Ha ha.

It has been a fun ride but it is time for this cat to buckle down. I can still have adventures, of course, but on a smaller scale. For now…

It Begins...

There is nothing like a fresh new blog. It doesn’t exactly have the new car smell but it is still pretty nifty. This one I find particularly nifty because of why I am writing it. I am challenging my self to do a triathlon. Oh, and it is in three and a half weeks. Eek. I have never done one before and I’m a bit nervous. So, I thought I would blog about it and you guys can all help me keep my motivation up while I torture in an intensive training program from now until race day on September 5^th. Here we go…