My Road to Challenge: Training Week 16 of 40

	Week 16 (Mar 3 – 9)	Cumulative
Total training hours	15:28	216:49
Swim	02:49 / 5.65 km	38:03 / 72.6 km
Bike	04:33 (spin class, trainer + 24.9 km on road)	47:23 (spin class, trainer + 24.9 km on road)
Run	04:20 / 54.59 km	57:47 / 598.66 km
Strength training	1:45	32:53
Yoga	2:00	35:30

Back feeling better, ramping the hours back up. The most notable aspect of this week? I finally got outside for a ride! Which prompts me to mention, I'm also experimenting with another bike - a road bike vs my tri-bike. Why? My trainer & cycling demigod thinks I should be on a road bike because I don't shift enough on my tri-bike. I'm undecided. Still experimenting with the bike fit. I do love some things about this borrowed bike, like the awesomeness of carbon & easy shifting, I'm not loving the hand position and I'm not sure about legs.

Week 16 looked like this:

Monday	15 minute warm spin on the trainer 45 minute weight workout Brick: 1 hr spin on the trainer + 20 minute run on the treadmill
Tuesday	1 hr spin on the trainer 2000m swim
Wednesday	8.3 km run Tri-Club Spin Class 2000m swim
Thursday Rest Day	Hatha Flow Yoga Class
Friday	18 minute warm up spin on the trainer Weight workout with my trainer (1 hr)
Saturday	1650m coached swim workout 30 km run
Sunday	24.9 km ride! Outside! Finally! Hatha Yoga Class

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 15 of 40

	Week 15 (Feb 24 – Mar 2)	Cumulative
Total training hours	12:02	201:21
Swim	04:42 / 9.5 km	35:14 / 66.95 km
Bike	01:45 (spin class + trainer time)	42:50 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	03:34 / 33.19 km	53:27 / 544.07 km
Strength training	1:00	31:08
Yoga	1:00	33:30

Week 15 was an on-call week. Before my tour of duty started, I went for a swim with something to prove. Negative voices in my head that needed to be quieted… I needed to know: Can I swim 3800m? Can I swim it in the time cut-off? Now, I know that my swim is going to be longer than 3.8 km, because I can’t swim a straight line if my life depended on it. And  just in case I was labouring under the misconception that I *can* swim a straight line, well my Garmin 910 sure set me straight. I’ve had some swims that look like freaking EKGs! Case in point:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/353521155. So I headed to the pool, with steely resolve and you know what? I can swim 3800m. And I can swim it in 1:50. Well within the cut-off. I was on a high. Great confidence booster. At least until a few weeks later when I had my first swim in a 50m lane setup and realized that I’m really maximizing that push off the wall. Damn it! Well, for a moment anyway, confidence was boosted!

Here is week 15. On-call negated several workouts. I moved on.              

Monday	3800m swim
Tuesday
Wednesday	3.1 km run Weight workout with my trainer (1 hr) Tri-Club Spin Class 2150m swim
Thursday Rest Day
Friday
Saturday	1400m coached swim workout 25 km run
Sunday	2150m swim w/pull buoy Hatha Yoga Class 45 minute spin on the trainer 5.1 km run (PRM TT#2)

The Tri Club run time trial happened under less than favourable conditions. At 28:31, it was definitely not my fastest 5K in the last year. But despite the slushy, slippery conditions, it was still faster than my first TT with the club last year. Progress!

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 14 of 40

	Week 14 (Feb 17 – Feb 23)	Cumulative
Total training hours	11:19	189:19
Swim	01:29 / 3.1 km	30:32 / 57.45 km
Bike	02:47 (spin class + trainer time)	41:05 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	03:33 / 33.88 km	49:53 / 510.88 km
Strength training	1:30	30:08
Yoga	2:00	32:30

Week 14 saw me hurting from race day but ready to whip this body into submission. Here’s how the week looked:

Monday	30 minute spin on the trainer 30 minute weight workout
Tuesday	5 km run
Wednesday	Hatha Yoga Class Tri-Club Spin Class 500m swim (teeny tiny swim, warning the back, we’ll be pull-buoy free)
Thursday	7 km run
Friday	5.2 km run Weight workout with my trainer (1 hr)
Saturday	16.6 km run Yin Yoga Class
Sunday	1:15 spin on the trainer 2600m swim

My Road to Challenge: Training Week 13 of 40

	Week 13 (Feb 10 – Feb 16)	Cumulative
Total training hours	10:50	178:00
Swim	03:59 / 9.45 km	29:03 / 54.35 km
Bike	04:28 (spin class + trainer time)	38:18 (spin class + trainer time)
Run	02:23 / 24.44 km	46:20 / 477 km
Strength training		28:38
Yoga		30:30

OK. Show of hands. How many people thought the cessation of weekly training updates meant I had come to my senses abandoned the pursuit of iron distance glory? Well, ha! Put your hands down. I’ve missed a workout here and there, sometimes in the name of on-call derailment, sometimes in the name of laziness recovery. I’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is: I’m so far behind on my blog updates that I won’t be able to do much more than itemize what I did, with no glorious recounting of the highs and lows. The bad news is: I’m still going to tell you what I did – because that’s what I do, and because at some point, I’m envisioning a Facebook status that says how many hours I’ve spent neglecting my family training, in the lead up to Challenge and this is a great way to keep track of that. OK, there’s more bad news: I’ll probably be able to remember little snippets of those weeks and share more than anyone cares to read. You might want to get some water. Pay attention to your hydration needs.

This week was the lead up to the First Half and my back woes meant some things remained scaled back (running) or off the table (weights, yoga). Here is week 13:

Monday	2:15 spin on the trainer 2500m swim w/pull buoy
Tuesday Rest Day
Wednesday	Tri-Club Spin Class 2200m swim w/pull buoy
Thursday
Friday	2250m swim w/pull buoy
Saturday	2500m swim w/pull buoy 1:15 spin on the trainer 3.2 km run
Sunday	“First Half” Half Marathon

Better Late Than Never

Oh yes, this title has meaning on a couple of levels... as a 6-week post (at least) race report, oh yes, it's definitely late. It could also be an apt title for a blog entry recapping the race, even if posted the day after. And there's the spoiler: I didn't get my sub-2.

I'm late enough with this post to spare you all the painful details. Ha! Painful in the sense that I could wax on and on about the smallest detail, even if it's of interest to no one but me. For example, they had his & hers porta-potties. Yes! Pink porta potties that smelled pretty, had no disgusting urinal and had mirrors on the back of the door. Ooops. I forgot, I'm meant to be sparing the smallest details. Since my pre-race post referenced the less than awesome weather that was expected, I should at least note that it was quite a beautiful day. Chilly but clear skies. Not a drop of rain. Perfect weather? No... I'll get to that.

The race started out great. My back was feeling OK and I was disciplined with my pacing, running close to the 5:38 i needed, maybe a few seconds faster, but not much. During the race, I felt like I was right on pace until about the 7K mark. In fact, I was on pace for my sub-2 until about the 10K mark. And then what happened? I hit the wind on the seawall. I tried to step up the effort to keep my pace up despite the wind but despite [what felt like] my best efforts, I couldn't recover my pace. Working harder, labouring, running slower. A friend later remarked that I should have tucked in behind someone. Why did this not occur to me? At 5'3", I could have tucked in behind nearly anyone for shelter from that wind!

The harder I dug in to try and go faster, the angrier my back got. By the end, I was in agony - and had to walk all the inclines because my back would spasm. Good times. As I saw sub-2 slipping away, I consoled myself with the fact that a Half PR was a certainty. But then I lost that in the last few K with my back tightening up, finishing in 2:05:20, 1:16 too slow for a 1 second PR. No sub-2, no PR, do not pass go, do not collect $200. On the bright side, it was a course PR, and even with the wind and a grumpy back, I ran this race 2:25 faster than last year.

And while no one turned up at my door with that fancy vegan Cherry Garcia ice cream, I did discover So Delicious Cherry Amaretto coconut milk ice cream. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to survive my break-up with Ben & Jerry just fine.

My next crack at a sub-2 Half will come at the MEC June race. And this one has a lucky history for me... it's the one I took second place in the 5K last year.