The First Ten Days - Do Over, Please?

Although technically the training week isn't over till tomorrow, I definitely don't want to include it in this week.  It's been a bit of a mess.

Last Saturday seemed to be the start of it.  I had a field power test planned for Saturday.  It was ridiculously cold to be riding, even for me.  (and without some crazy tradition egging me on).  38 degrees on the bike ... sheesh.  It reminded when I first started triathlon, back in Calgary, and I went out on the bike in 59 degrees (up there of course it was 15C) and cut it short because it was too cold.  Now granted, I probably wasn't wearing the right clothes - I was a newbie...had no idea what to be wearing, or that it was so much colder on the bike than on the run.  But I've learned a lot since then, and here I was, out in 38 degrees to do a power test no less.  The power test was to re-establish my zones appropriately for the upcoming training blocks.  Those of you reading who don't know what a power test is - trust me when I tell you it is not exactly "fun".  It's pretty much a 20 minute all-out effort.  I went out to Columns Drive, and did a few loops (5 miles each) warmup, and just as I hit the lap button to start my actual test, the hub battery on the PowerTap died.  Seriously.  Understand that this battery has been changed only twice in the 3+ years I've had my PowerTap.  It seriously couldn't have waited TWENTY more minutes to die?  LOL. I finished the ride anyway, putting real ownership to the Crazy Canuck identity.

Sunday I woke up and was sick again ... the same thing from just before Christmas, returned.  ACK.  Knew I wouldn't get the 8-9 I was supposed to run done, but went out hoping for 5 or 6.  One loop in, and struggling to run on the downhills I knew it was time to pack it in.  Texted Coach, and the instructions were clear - no run on Monday, and easy workouts on Tuesday IF I was feeling better.  Monday I drove up to Richmond to return to my stint at the current client.  Tuesday morning I went to the doc, and thankfully I tested negative for the flu.  I did get prescribed a stronger antibiotic, and Coach decided that Tuesday would be a day off after all.  Wednesday I did a 30 minute bike, and man, it was so much harder than I expected!  The antibiotics had some unpleasant GI side effects, making Thursday's bike not so great.  Just didn't have much energy.  I did 35 of the 45 prescribed.  Friday I was feeling much better, and went to the pool for my swim.  Imagine my surprise as I walked out to the pool deck to find cameras, a gazillion people, and only one open lane.  Apparently they were shooting a commercial.  Unbelievable!  And I've really never seen more than 2 people in the pool before, and yet the one lane left open for us to swim in contained 5 people.  They were all pretty slow, so the actual workout was not a possibility, so I just did 2000 straight swimming.  I did manage to find a number of opportunities to put in a fast 25 or 50 as well. The good news is I felt pretty great after this swim! 

Coach continues to remind me that you have to take it slow after an illness, to avoid a backwards slide. And that 'Nooga is a long way away.  "We have to be smart now".  I imagine this has often been my problem in the past...too eager to get 'back on track'.  And it ends up getting worse.  So I've been particularly careful to follow this week's revised (several times) schedule.  And you know what, today I did the revised workouts - no long run, but a strength session, an 1800y swim, and an easy bike followed by a quick 20 min run.  And I feel fantastic.  Ready to take on this next week (including tomorrow).

So, lesson learned, and shared - go easy coming back from an illness.  Pushing too hard too early will only cause a relapse. It's another example of my growing list of 'as in life, so in tri and vice versa' examples.  Sometimes you have to slow down a little to get faster, and this is definitely one twist on that truth.

Happy Training

Kat

Goals, Hockey, New Mantra

New Year's Day.  The day we take stock, look at our lives, and resolve to do/be/whatever better.  Sometimes it seems strange that we put so much importance on that aspect on this one day.  Why not just do that all the time? And while I agree with that, and certainly as an Agile coach I highly recommend it (retrospectives every sprint!) I think there is merit in looking at the grander plan once in a while, and seeing if you are moving towards the big goals or if you've found yourself on a detour somehow.  And this NYD opportunity seems to pretty much just slap you in the face whether you are ready for it or not.  And Damn.  2014??  WTF.

So where am I at, in the grand scheme?  Well, who really knows what the grand scheme is to start with, aside from just becoming a better version of myself...as I've learned, and shared here, life is what happens when you are busy planning it.  So as I continue to embrace that truth, and allow the overall mantra of just being kind to guide me in my decisions, (to both others AND myself), I will take a look at  some shorter term goals at least that are on the horizon for this year.

For starters, New Year = New Coach.  I am very excited to be joining Dynamo with Coach Matthew Rose as my new Coach.  I want the best IM performance I can get out of myself this year, and I think Matthew can help me get there.  He has a somewhat different perspective on things, and I think it is a perspective that I can really learn a lot from, both as an athlete, and as a coach myself.  Of course, the athlete side of things is where I hope to gain the most from working with Matthew, culminating in a standout performance in September at Chattanooga.  Started out the new year with a nice steady run this morning.  #NoZeroes !!!  Steady base, and sticking to it, is one of my bigger challenges.  I've spent the last couple of years overtrained and injured, and part of that is because I go too hard, even when I say I'm not.  Matthew will be a good influence on this.  As I replied to a tweet from Dynamo this morning, I started to say slow and steady wins the race.  Which really, as I started to think about it, is total bullshit, and there's no way I can convince myself of that.  HOWEVER, it is critical to great performance later in the year, (IT being low/Z2 heart rate training) so I altered it to #slowandsteadygetsyoureadytogofast and that I can buy into.  So 'slow and steady gets you ready' might be my new mantra...at least for the next couple months.  ;)  #GOGREEN

I spent the rest of my day watching the Winter Classic - Leafs vs Red Wings outdoor hockey game.  GoLeafsGo!! Awesome time with a bunch of Canadians at a local bar (owned by a former Flames player).  I also had fun texting with my Mum during the game (she just started texting this summer) and man, she cracks me up.  Whether its curling or hockey, I get some great colour commentary from her.  The curling a few weeks back (Cdn Olympic teams being selected - its a big deal in Canada) was priceless, and today with the hockey, she somehow managed to be in the kitchen every time they scored.  Our text conversation looked like this...with goals scored at 3:23 and 3:55.  With only seconds left in the game and tied at 2-2, I texted her to "get in the kitchen!! NOW!!" and she replied "I've been there for 15 minutes".  ROFL.  God I love my Mum.

Leafs won it, which made it even better, (and Mum finally was allowed of the kitchen) with the final shot of the game to boot (shootout, last shooter).  It was snowing like crazy the whole game, and it got me thinking about a couple of things.  1) why don't you ever see triathletes with black smudges under their eyes and 2) no matter the sport, you do your best to get ready for game day and then deal with whatever the day brings you.  Be it unbearable heat or humidity, crazy hilly routes, constant headwind, mechanicals, or SNOW, everyone has to face the same conditions on the day.  What you do before hand is what counts, and you have control over only that.  It takes sacrifice, commitment, and sometimes difficult choices.  But I can control most of that, most of the time.  And then it is whatever it is on race day.  So here I go, committing to making the best choices I can as I prepare for my game day in September.

As for the rest, well I think it's time to become a city girl for the first time in my life, so I'll be working towards selling this place and downsizing.  My art needs to take a little more precedence too, since that feeds my soul.  And, finally, I need more fun in my life.  That may just come as a natural result of the first few things, along with a little help from some of the new friends I've been making, and the ones that continue to be a constant in my life.  You know who you are and I love all y'all!! (yes. I said that.)

Wishing each of you the strength and desire to make your own best choices, the ones that get you further down your own road.

Happy Training!
and please support my efforts to raise money for CCFA

Kat