Update! Weeks 8 & 9 and Chilly Goals!

Hello... is this thing on? Sorry, I've been MIA, which usually happens when work gets crazy. And its been two weeks of full  on crazy, but we had our first big presentation yesterday and whew, it went well. So now I have a few down days before I get right back into revisions for the next round (advertising - all glamour!)

I've never seen an episode

So, how did the weeks go? Pretty okay. I missed some distance, but not the long runs, which are key. I actually fit all of my runs in last week including a 23k Tuesday run (spread over two runs!)

That's right, you even seen one trainer session in each week.

Week 8 I managed to run 6x100m run on the Monday and  noped the nope out of any other work for the week. The week did end well with a 30k run along the Around the Bay route with Sam (for 18k) and Emma (for the entire run), and then tacked on 2k to hit my first 20 miler of  the  training plan. It was a tough run (what with the elevation changes and distance), but I'm super  happy to have put the distance behind me, even if I was a bit delirious by the end.

You know you're hungry when, nearing the end of your run, you read "No fries..." #justrun #likeagirl

A photo posted by Nicole (@macnic05) on Feb 20, 2016 at 7:59am PST

Emma waited for me to jog out to the pier and take photos finish my run so that  we could  get a post-run selfie together and bask in our awesomeness. I was shocked when I loaded the splits and  saw just how amazingly consistent they were for the last half of the run (all in the 5:30s/km - go us!).

Week 9 was planned as a huge week: 69km with a 23k run on Tuesday and 26k with 19k at pace on Saturday. Thankfully, Sam became the voice of reason, asking why we'd run race pace the week before an actual race that  we were all planning on ... racing? Whew! With that settled, I tacked the week of long work and long runs and hit all of  my distance and a bike ride! The long runs and long work hours meant far too many of these:

Planning season. Death by mini eggs. #media #justanotherdamndayinadvertising

A photo posted by Nicole (@macnic05) on Feb 25, 2016 at 10:41am PST

Its never a good thing to work a 7 minute walk from a Bulk Barn.

With the weekend long run clear to run easy, Sam decided that she'd plan a hell run, her favourite route which meant all of the Around the Bay Northshore Hills and then more hills followed by other hills after that. And one super sweet downhill. I wasn't feeling the run from the second I woke up, but I did my best to keep up with the girls and they were awesome about waiting for me to crest the hills and in the end, I felt great for having put the mileage in.

It will make me stronger

26k on Northshore and Hillsdale today with these Chiquita bananas. We're coming for ya #atb2016

A photo posted by Sam J (@sammykaye71) on Feb 27, 2016 at 7:12am PST

Everyweek, Sam #doesitfortheinsta

So, two good weeks, building base, if not speed. I was on the treadmill a few times in those weeks, so that does mean I was running some speed within those, but no tempo or anything. That is something that will come back next week. For this week, the goal is the nail the Chilly Half Marathon.

This will be my fifth running of the race. I PB'd my first race here and have always enjoyed  the run despite varied conditions. I've decided to go out with the 1:50 pacer and the goal is to come in at 1:49xx. This is faster than I need to run to qualify for the Boston Marathon and if I manage to nail it, it will be a huge mental boost. Besides, Emma is looking to PB at sub 1:51:19 (and I was part  of that!) and I want to do my best to help her get there. I know she can do it and I know I can too. Sunday will tell! See you on the flip side with the race report!

Week Six of Off Season!

Sailing right along in this off season thing! I've made a firm decision this week in regards to swimming and took a foot off in terms of cycling, but I still managed to fit in what I wanted.

In terms of swimming, I had originally planned to get to the 9pm lane swim on Thursday nights. After four weeks of thinking that this would happen and not, I decided that the stress and guilt of planning for this swim time wasn't worth it. I will likely NEVER make it to a 9pm anything on a week night. Let's face it, in order to get a good 7 hours sleep, I will need to be in bed most nights by 930pm at the latest. That swim time just doesn't fit with my lifestyle. And I'm not even training for a triathlon. Letting that go and realizing that I may only make a swim time once a week if I'm lucky really gave me some extra energy to go and attack things again. In the end, I swam on both Saturday and Sunday as my sons both had hockey schedules which cooperated with the lane swim times. The thing is, when I swim, I really enjoy it.

In terms of cycling, this was the final week of my sweet spot base building plan and I decided to skip the final 90 minute spin. I just wasn't feeling it and I wanted to take some extra time back for myself (and sleep, let's be honest). In the end, this was the right decision as I was able to attack my long run on Saturday and due to running with some speedier friends, the back half of the run was rather quick!

Here is how week six shook out:

Monday: TR Black - a consistent effort for an hour. Not all out, but no lovely 60% breaks either

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Slept in. Ran 7k at the gym at lunch with 5x2 mins fast, 2 mins slow (Coach Phaedra special), this felt great! In the evening, I was supposed to repeat TR Black, but instead I used my home selector weights to fit in my strength training.

Thursday: 8k early AM run before meeting friends/colleagues for breakfast prior to work. My stomach was slouchy like I had drank too much so I kept it easy.

Seriously, this weather is awesome!

Friday: After work, I hit the trainer for the second Black session of the week. This time, I was prepared and it felt better. Then, I met up with a whole bunch of my running friends for dinner and left with a sweet pair of #runnerd socks (no photo, sorry)

Once I retake the FTP test, something tells me I won't be so off target

Saturday: Long run day! While I was supposed to meet up with Sam, Ivanka, and Amy at my place at 7, only Ivanka showed as the others were not feeling well. We left right at 7am and ran about 5k to Kelly's place (fellow hockey mum), where she joined in. Around 10k, Henro joined us and the foursome was complete. Once we met up with Henro, our pace dropped to about 5:30/km, but it felt good and we kept up the conversation. I love running with people it makes the time fly. Ivanka and I ran 20k total with Kelly putting in her longest run ever at 15k and Henro continued past my house and home to his own place for 14k. Great day (no photos! - that was Sam's job!).

After I got home and showered, I noted that Alasdair's hockey practice and lane swim time were at the same time, same place! With no time to spare, I made the decision to go swimming. This worked out well and I swam for 1,000m - feeling good the entire time.

Lying swim cap

Sunday: The day started slow when I turned off my alarm and decided not to run. HAHA. I knew I wanted to get back to lunch lane swim, so I ate a bigger than normal breakfast and then headed out to church and to get groceries with Fergus while my husband took Alasdair to hockey. After everyone was home, it was time to swim. I planned to be in the pool for an hour and I did. I managed to swim 50m at a time (HUGE!) and ended up with 1,200m.

I got home in time to dry off and eat before changing again into running gear. I ended up getting my run in, taking the long way to Fergus' 2:30pm hockey game. YAY for fitting everything in!!! And we put up our Christmas tree!

Total distance for the week: 84.96k, lower than "usual" this off season, but I skipped about 45k on the bike (two rides) and that was the right thing for me.

Total time: 7h16m59s - YAY for fitting it all in!

This week should be interesting. I need to decide if I'm going to take another easy bike week or re-take my FTP test (which is highly anticipated among my pushy triathlete friends). Seeing as longer mid-week runs will start in two weeks, I should likely up my run distance as well in individual runs. Finally, I would love to get back in the pool twice. Oh, and strength training. Ya. I guess I shouldn't forget about that.

Have a great week!

And now for something completely different

Ahh, the off season. Realistically, this is my 5th off season since I starting running distance races in 2011. Every off season sees me with the same basic goals: Get in more strength training, Lose weight.

2015 will be no different of course. Based on being pretty lazy during the summer, I'm at my highest weight since my post partum season in 2011, so dropping the weight is a major priority. So much so, that I'm currently on a 56 day streak on MyFitnessPal, tracking my food (and booze) intake. I don't track my water (but I drink it) and I never track my cup of morning coffee (I use some cream, but no sugar). I'll friend anyone within reason as I'm an open book about stuff like this (I started at 142lbs), so find me as macnic.

But what of the difference for this particular off season? Well, it started with this:

That, my friends, is a Fluid Force bike trainer and last week, I started a six week base building program on Trainer Road. Trainer Road is the program that so many of my triathlete friends use, that I had to give it a try.  Emma was kind to give me a code to get my first month free, as well as continually encourage and help me figure out the static bike thing. Irina and her husband, Zindine have also given me loads of pointers and tips. I'm a lucky gal. I fully feel that sticking to this program will make me a stronger runner at the end of the six weeks.

I can now post fancy graphs that mean nothing to non-trainer people!

My first week is completed and I'm happy with how it went. Of course running is still in the mix and swimming will also be added. I still have to figure out how I'll make the weight training part of the mix, but these things have a way of working themselves out.

Monday: 1hr bike trainer - FTP test to set up my program
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 1hr bike trainer, first workout of the plan
Thursday: 7k run in the AM, I felt great!
Friday: 1.5 hrs on the bike trainer before work. I'm particularly proud of that one
Saturday: 12k Group run with Zindine, Sam, Hockey mum Kelly and Irina on her mum-bike
Sunday: 6k glorious run in the early AM with the first frost.

Total: 101km on the week. Not a bad start to off season! And I lost a tiny bit of weight. I really hope to be under 140lbs by next week. I just have to stay away from the Halloween candy!

So, biking, friends and salad. Its what the off season is about for me this time around.

Photo by Irina

Update on the Bike - weeks 4, 5, and 6

I guess I've been a bit of a slacker over here in blog land. Things have not been very happy on my runs. I will have to give you separate updates for running and cycling. Today will deal with cycling.

Simply put, I am really LOVING the bike.

Of course, it helps that putting skinny tires on my bike has increased my speed significantly. Now I'm always over 20km/h speeds and in fact I've topped out on rides at an average speed of over 25km/h.

Get this girl a road bike!

Obviously, I don't have a road bike yet. I've looked at one. My husband has done some research as well. It is doubtful I'll get a bike in time for this season, but I may be joining the masses at the Fall Toronto Bike Show to see what's what.

Its not just the speed. Obviously, there is rapid improvement with the bike as its a new sport and I'm just learning how to crank it. Best of all, I'm loving the freedom to get out there and move and explore.

Skinnies on the #mumbike

After my solo 50k ride, I went into two down weeks which coincided with pre-vacation and actual vacation. I cranked out 20k in week 4 on the stationary bike at the gym but that was the longest I was able to bike that week In total, I managed only 64k between running and cycling, but I was happy with what I did fit in.

While I was on vacation (week 5), I mananged another 20k out and back ride from our campsite in Ipperwash Beach to Forest and back. The day was gloomy, and a bit windy, but it didn't matter. I loved the open country road with no potholes and limited traffic. It was a beauty ride and one that I'm proud I did. The fact that I was back within an hour made it all the better as I didn't take too much time away from my family.

The day stayed gloomy though, so I ended up taking the older boys for a 5k round trip bike down to the beach where they skipped rocks into Lake Huron. It was fun to have my own bike gang.

Vacation week (5), ended with what will be my lowest mileage for this plan at 34k combined. I don't mind. That's what vacation is about.

Week six started with a need to refocus. The run is where my difficulties lay right now, but that's a topic for another post. This week had its own challenges as my husband was travelling for work, and I had to cut out one planned ride, so instead I upped my Monday distance to 16k (which felt awesome and allowed me to hit an average pace of 24.4km/h) and planned another distance record ride of 65k for Sunday:

 

The day dawned with perfect weather. Little wind, cool and overcast when I headed out shortly before 0600. I decided to keep my route pretty straightforward and rode out to Meadowvale, hit Brampton and headed back into Milton along Steeles road. I took a break to eat half a Clif bar at 31k, in Hornby.

There was work on this ride, especially with some rollers once I was back out of the urban part of Milton heading for home. Tremaine Road from 3 Side Road to Steeles is particularly rolly, with inclines that still head up even when they are going down. However, this is good practice for the GranFondo which will see similiar (and worst) climbs over the last half anyway.

The reward of sticking with Tremaine was immediate upon taking off from the stop sign at Steeles though. Heading downhill, cranking hard I was joyful, singing along with Dave Matthews band at the top of my lungs. Glorious in the summer morning, feeling all of those awesome endorphin's of a good athletic effort and simply, being alive and able to do these things.

It was a good ride.

And now, the big bike update.

Mum-bike or no, solo or with friends, I'll be tackling a (metric) century ride this summer for sure. I figure, with the right course and conditions I should be able to finish in under five hours.

And I know, I'll love every minute of it.

The Fall 2014 Plan

Well! I figure as I sit here after the first official training week for the Fall that I should likely share my fall plans with all of you. Of course, as I learned this week, I can not be 100% in anything I've not yet signed up for as my oldest son has made the Rep Hockey Novice team and thus hockey and tournaments now take precedence over everything (kinda).

So, the fall plan has been written. Here are the first few weeks

The red box is when we are away for the week. I don't force myself to stick to the plan during this time.

If you click, it will go larger. As you can see, there is an equal number of bikes and runs during the week!

I KNOW! That's because I had to write my entire fall plan around The Epic Tour Halton (September 7) where I will be riding the 80k distance with my co-worker who talked me into it. Of course, I have this sweet mum bike to get me through and I've gotten speeds up to 22.2km/h thus far. Don't be too jealous! 

But what else am I doing? There is quite a bit of running on that plan as well. In order, here is the plan:

A return to pacing and the awesome 30k at A MidSummer Night's Run (August 16) (I'll pace the 3hr group, join me!)

This may happen again

Next after that, I'm hoping to run the 10k at MEC Race 4 (September 6). This comes the day before the Gran Fondo, so we'll see what happens. This 10k is also the basis of all of the early speedwork for the summer. Like during the summer of 2011, I plan to return to the track in order to gain the grounding in order to toe the line at this race hoping for a finishing time around 48 minutes. Sam's keen on the same goal, so we're using the same basic running plan.

After my Gran Fondo is in the bag, the plan ups the ante with four run days and one bike day a week. I also begin to add some goal half marathon pace into the long runs. There won't be much time to test out my newfound speed over distance though, because like Sam, I plan to take my first stab at going sub-1:45 in the half at the Oakville Half Marathon (September 21), after all, I had a great time running with Sam and Richard during the last 5k in 2013. This race conflicts with my son's first tournament. The tournament was supposed to be on September 12-14, however they had to change to September 19-21 and will be in Essex. I signed up for the race and the next day, the tournament got changed! My husband and I have chatted though and he's fine with me doing the race as I can't get a refund on my bib. 

Skirt power with Sam at the end of Oakville last year

After Oakville, Sam, Emma, Bridgett and I will reunite for another 25k trail race, Run for the Toad (October 4). I'm hoping we can produce more awesome tampon commercial worthy photos

Finally, finally, there will be the now traditional, Road2Hope half marathon on November 2nd. Unless a hockey tournament conflicts. My backup in that case is the weekend before at the Niagara Falls half marathon. I've also put my hand up to pace Niagara, so we'll see what happens.

As you can see, I have a VERY full plan on the go. Of course, in my first week of training I've been able to get every workout in and have hit 83 combined bike/run kilometers for the week. This meant I was in bed at 2115 on Saturday night. Turns out massive amounts of physical activity and a party lifestyle don't really go hand in hand. But I'm okay with that. I think the biking will really help me keep my Plantar Fasciitis in check, plus everyone keeps telling me it will help with my running. 

And who knows? I may just become a multi-sport athlete before you know it!