Sports Highlights

Was up and at it at 5:30am today. The weather forcast was for cold, cold with a side of cold and I had a 35 minute steady state run to do. I find it hard to get my heart rate up when I run outside this time of year because I am constantly watching my footing. So for my endurance runs, running outside is good but I headed to the treadmill today for the steady state. The idea is to do a bit of a warm-up and then run for 35 minutes with my heart rate in a range. Not a tempo run, not an endurance run, somewhere in between. But OH MY GOD boring....I turned the television on and watched the TSN sports highlights that they show over and over and over again...I haven't followed hockey at all this winter so I don't know the male dramas that are happening right now but that coach from the Maple Leafs looked darn pissed!! I am a huge football fan so to watch the NFL highlights is fun for me. I missed most of the Sunday games as my sister was in town and we spent the day with her and my cousins out at my mom's place.
Hopefully, everyone will sleep well and I can get a swim in tomorrow morning.

Splish Splash

Well, my ego was kicked to the curb yestereday at the pool! We did a fitness test to see where we were at in the way of pace times. First up was a warm up and then a little bit of rest and then a 50 meter sprint as hard as we could go. My 50m time was 33 seconds...and THAT was as fast as I could go!! Then we had a little bit more rest with some easy swimming and then a 400 meter timed swim and coach Brad said "You should have nothing left at the end of the 400." ALL of the fast guys were there yesterday and this means I get tossed around in the waves as they go by...but good practice for open water swimming! Anyway, I was last in the lane and Dr.Bob told me he would be okay if I drafted off of him. Dr.Bob would be in his early 50's and the only man in the group who wears a speedo...I do not lie. However, as kind as the drafting offer was, those boys took off like friggin torpedos!! I lost Dr.Bob's feet at about 75 meters and afterwards they told me their first 100 was done in 1:20...I don't think I kept that pace even when I was a kid. The postive, at least the effort was all my own...and I only got lapped by the leader. I had to laugh as before we started, two of them conspired against the leader and planned to take turns drafting so they would beat his time. They said he needed to be brought down a notch...boys will be boys! And the trash talking!! My goodness, my poor virgin ears...I can see a couple of you rolling your eyes...
When it was all done, my 400 meter time on the board was 6:22. I was actually a tiny bit dissappointed with this as I thought I should be down around 6:00minutes. But coach Brad took me aside after and showed me all the data and said that time did not account for the 25 seconds I left behind the start...so I really did it in just under 6 minutes....that's better. What does this all mean? He tells me I have lots of top end speed (my 50 meter time) but not so much for endurance (my 400 meter time). I had to hold my tongue as I wanted to say, no shit, Sherlock, all we have been doing is drill!! But he was very encouraging and told me that even though we had lots of work to do, I should be able to post a pretty good 1500 meter time early in the new year and only get faster from there. We can expect these fitness tests every 6 weeks. My 100 meter pace time, for now, should be 1:40s and right after the holidays, look for lots and lots and lots of meters.
Now I just have to get on that BIKE!!

Doggone Tired

Whew...I am beat. A long and busy week. I ran on Thursday morning and today. I had so much to do today I was up and out the door at 6:00am...on a Saturday!! Yak. It was calm and the trees were covered in frost. It was really eerie...because there was also a kind of fog just hanging in the air. I started running my usual Saturday route but did not want to do the trails when it was dark and with that fog so I doubled back and just ran around my neighborhood. For just over an hour. The plan called for almost 2 hours but darn it my hands were c-c-cold!! The best part was that I tried out my new Garmin!! Yup..a little Christmas present to Kelly love Kelly. I am pretty sure it will make me better at something...
Off to the pool tomorrow morning...can't wait to see what's in store for us there.

Here it comes....

I have just finished reading an old friend's blog on her Ironman training. She is a terrific writer and I was giggling while reading it until I got to the part about someone telling her she cannot be a good mother and an athlete. PARDON MOI???!! I would love to invite this a-hole to my son's 5th birthday party tomorrow and have him witness a very fine mom who is ALSO an athlete AND who has an education, a career, money, dreams and goals, that are all her own. The best thing you can do for your kids after loving them is live by example. I want my kids to chase their dreams, conquer their fears, do the things they think they cannot do...they will only believe this is possible if they see those close to them also out there chasing what they believe is theirs. Like The Universe says, thoughts become things, so pick the good ones. It is also about balance. No, I will not win any race I am in. No, I will not qualify for anything. BUT I will be healthy, fit, accomplished, proud, confident and walking tall. I will have worked very hard for something I wanted. Growth is not about finding your limits, its about finding those limits, and smashing through them!! These are the things I want to teach my boys because they are watching my every move. And if I do so say so myself, I am a GREAT MOM!! And so is my friend.

On the road again....

To quote one of the greatest country artists of all time. Although I am not in a band but I did go for a run today! The first time in a week. I must say, a good decsion to take that week off cause I did the hour, no issues, no pain, I actually had fun!! And I went outside for the first time in quite awhile and the weather station was lying because they said it was minus 13 at 6:00am today but it was MUCH colder than that. Oh well...my dad would now say...when the going gets tough, the tough get going, so GET GOING! I remember when I was a kid I begged and begged him to play hockey. We lived in a small town and that was back in the day before girls played any organized hockey. He played some pro hockey and I grew up at the rink, literally, so I think I just assumed I would play someday. So he put me in hockey skates, got all the gear on me and set me on the ice. The first game I was in, I remember getting hit by a kid, getting the wind knocked out of me, and crying and limping to the box. Of course, dad was the coach and wouldn't let me back on the bench. I remember him leaning down over me and saying "You wanted to do this, you get out there, suck it up, and DO IT!" My oh my, how our childhoods come back to haunt us sometimes. These were my thoughts when my alarm went off today, and I was groggy and it was dark and cold outside. Get out there, suck it up, and DO IT! It WILL pay off in July...I hope!!