Just be happy already...

It occurred to me the other day after making a Facebook post bemoaning that shopping was still difficult as a size 8 that I'm looking at this all wrong. When I was at my heviest I wore a size 18/20, couldn't shop in "normal" stores and would have given anything to be a size 12. Size 12 was the smallest I could remember ever being even through High School and University and I don't ever really thinking I was too big then - I pretty much thought, when I was a size 20, that a 12 was as low as I could ever physically get... So here we are today at a size 8, and I see myself looking in the mirror and still critisizing the same things I did previously. If the size 20 version of me could hear me now I'd probably slap myself into next week. So while I think it's ok to try and strive to make things better, I also need to learn to relax a bit and appreciate what I've done to get here. Perhaps less stress will make the end of this journey just a bit easier. And the next time I moan perhaps just threatening to slap me into next week will be enough!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ups and Downs

Or should that be downs and ups?

So I've done race 1 on my long list of races to complete this year, that being Harry's Spring Run Off, the 8K race around High Park. Now High Park is my local park, we run the dogs there, and spend quite a bit of time there in all seasons. It's a great park with lots of fabulous scenery, but of course no scenery was ever known to be flat, pretty always has bumps and curves right? In the case of High Park this consists of a couple brutal uphill climbs, on at about 3.5k into the 8K and the other is the very last 500m of the race - yeah, what bright spark thought that one up! Not to mention the rolling hill paths as you get down around the bottom of the park. All in all it's quite a challenging course. It had numbers in my head of what I thought I'd be able to do the race in, but all my calculations were done in reference to my last few 5K runs which were all on mostly flat routes, adding to it this being the longest race I've attempted so far, I probably should have not been quite so ambitious with the finishing number I was looking for. Needless to say my 54:18 wasn't the time I was looking for, but looking back at the race overall, I managed to keep an even pace across the entire race, I didn't stop to walk at any point in time, and even fought my way up the brutal last 500m hill to the finish - my husband was there at the hill ready to start yelling and shouting at me if I looked like I was having signs of giving up on the final hill, and I think he was suitably impressed that he got to keep his voice! Still, it's a learning moment, and definitely a good preparation for the Sporting Life 10K that's coming up - there's hills in that, but luckily they all go in one direction - down!

In recognizing small accomplishments I know I'm finally getting faster at this running thing. Last August I did a timed mile with the run coach at our gym and I was a couple seconds shy of a 10 minute mile. I was suitably impressed by that at the time, although completely wiped out after doing it! This past Wednesday, with the same running coach, we had our group morning run. Warm-up was a 2K run from the gym to High Park, then it was a timed mile around the upper loop, this time the mile was 8:56, so I've dropped a minute in under a year - it's still slow, but I'm just not a natural runner, and well, June last year is probably when I first actually started to try to run at all knowing that every triathlon I wanted to do was going to finish with that pesky run! Still, it's getting better, and there's only one way it can keep going - no need for the Olympic runners to worry anytime soon though!

Now how about some big accomplishments. Today was the quarterly fitness evaluation. I get weighed, pinched and measured, then tested in distance ran in 12 minutes, strength and isometric endurance with wall sits and the plank. It's a tough test - we start off with the run on the treadmill, now in January 2009 I managed 0.78 of a mile, today it was 1.17, as I said above, I'm not a fast runner, but I'm running, and that's more than I could say before! My strength numbers were good, nothing extraordinary, but still showing improvement, but my isometric endurance is doing some great stuff, in January 2009 I held a plank for 15 seconds, today was 2 minutes 6 seconds, add that to the wall sit that was 1:12min in January 2009, and was 3:19min today - yeah, I'm pleased about that.

As for all the weighing, pinching and measuring, since January 2009 here's some crazy numbers, overall I've lost 246.5mm of pinchable body fat - yup, just shy of 10 inches that is... Next, My body fat has gone from 57.6% down to 21.5%, that's from obese down to a "fitness" percentage according to Wikipedia. Looking more at that body fat, My first testing showed I was carrying 146.3lbs of pure fat - about 1.5x my lean weight at the time, I'm now carrying 36.9lbs of fat, yes, nearly 110lbs of fat evaporated there! It turns out that my diet may not need quite as much tweaking as I was thinking it may need either, over the last quarter I lost 11 lbs, which doesn't sound like much, but take into consideration that the pinch tests show that 9lbs of that was fat lost and not lean weight, so I'm maintaining muscle and taking off the stuff I don't need which is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing - fabulous! The thought is that there's probably another 20lbs floating about this body that I can shed - perhaps by the end of the summer - then I'll be some force to be reckoned with... oh, right in time for an Olympic distance triathlon.... er, what happened to that force again?

Swimming & What's Next

So I had my assessment swim for the Masters club I'm looking to join yesterday. It was a hard hour in the 50m pool - which itself was a bit new as most of the pools I get the opportunity to swim in are 25m, but it went well none the less. The swim felt good, the coach worked on a bit of technique with all of us, and generally I was pleased with how everything went. Met another girl there who's pursuing the triathlete route as well - she also started last year, but already has 3 races under her belt and is looking to complete a 1/2 IM this year - something I'm not sure I'm ever going to attempt! After all was said and done they assess what lane you'd best fit into in their club, and then let you know when a spot opens up - with 1 being the slowest, and 8 being the fastest I got put into lane 4. I'm perfectly happy with that, I've always been a middle of the pack type, and it leaves a lot of room to get better too! Here's hoping for a spot in lane 4 soon now!

Ian and I have registered for another race this summer - it's the first Toronto Great Urban Race. You register as a team, and then the race consists of the team deciphering local clues, getting items off the list, taking photos of specific things, and generally running around town like mad fools - seems somehow appropriate for us! The top 25 finishers get invites to the championship Great Urban Race - in Vegas... I've walked Vegas - it's a lot larger than it looks... but how much fun!

My first race of the season is coming up this weekend - Harry's Spring Run Off. It's an 8K race around High Park, so nice and local, and also my longest road race to date. The weather forecast is boding well - they're even talking about 20C for Saturday, which will suit me just fine! I also know a lot of people doing this race, which should be fun - they'll all be passing me, but I'll still wave and smile as they go past!

What do I really need?

I've got a group going on Facebook for folks I'm encouraging to take part in the Toronto Island Try-a-tri with me this year. This was the first triathlon I ever took part in, and for the people in the group it's their first triathlon also. (Do feel free to join the group even if you're not going to do the race, but want some training encouragement none the less!). I posted an article up there a few days ago about the gear you need for doing a triathlon, thinking this may help out a few people to start thinking about what they've got, and what they may need to invest in before August. After reading a blog post from one of my committed followers (committed meaning I know she's registered for the race already!) I figured it may be useful to the others doing their first try-a-tri to know what you don't actually need to stress about!

As this race was my first triathlon, and I didn't know anyone else who'd actually done one of these races last year all my knowledge gathering and learning was online. I was so stressed about the transitions I'd play them over in my head over and over when I should have been sleeping. I spent hours on Youtube watching videos of other triathletes doing transitions, and what they were wearing and why. I spent hours in running shoe stores figuring out what was the best for me - and then spent weeks touring every running shop in the local area looking for elastic no-tie laces because that's what all the triathlon websites told me I needed... Oh, and the bike, I knew I wasn't going to spend a fortune, so make that another few hours, who am I kidding, weeks on Craigslist looking for something better than my pretty bike with a basket that I used to get groceries!

In the end none of that mattered. For the length of the this race you could wear your swimsuit for the entire race - or just pull on a pair of quick-drying shorts after the swim if you need to. The bike ride itself is only 10K - it's over in no time flat. You don't need padded bike shorts for 10K, nor do you need clip pedals. There were many people out there last year on their mountain bikes with knobbly tires - yes they were slower, but they were still getting it done! I was there on my $20 garage sale special 1980's road bike and running shoes and it all worked out just fine. Heck, I was passing folks on much nicer bikes than mine!

And well, the run - it's 2.5K. I decided 2 months before this race that I was going to do it, and the only running I'd done leading up to that was a few interval workouts on the treadmill at the gym - and I hated them. I was still 50lbs over my goal weight when I did this race, and I still got it done. I was running with a woman for a bit who looked significantly fitter than I was at the time, at the end of my second loop on the run course I was surprised to see her loop back again - this woman who was outwardly fitter than me was half of the run course behind me.

The real list of what you need is:
Goggles
Swim Suit
Running Shoes (& socks if you need)
Bike
Bike Helmet (They won't let you race without one)
Towel (somewhere to put your stuff, and dry your feet after the swim)
Water Bottle w/ water - even then, water and energy drinks are available on the run course, I just kept mine on my bike and only used it in transition.

race belt (it's a bit of elastic that your race number attaches to - round the back for the bike, and swing it round the front for the run - much easier than safety pins on the t-shirt!)

That's it... The race gives you a swim cap, so you don't even have to worry about that. You can add sunglasses into that list if you want - I used them more as bug-out-of-the-eyes protection than for the sun. Even a cap for the run isn't too necessary - it's an early morning race, and the sun isn't anywhere near overhead by the time we're running.

I stressed way too much about all this last year, but then again the first race is a bit daunting. I completed in just under an hour last year - and I know I can better than this year - but it's good to remember that this is a try-a-tri, not an Ironman - it's designed for first timers new to the sport. Everyone putting on this event wants you to enjoy yourself out there, and not get stressed about it - even other competitors on the course are really encouraging. I've done several road races since this, and by far the best experience was this try-a-tri for it's organization, support, and general camaraderie. This race was the impetus for me being signed up to do 4 more triathlons this summer, and many more in the future I'm sure!

It's merely a flesh wound...

So I got my bike fitting today. We've gone with a relaxed fit for the moment, until I get used to the bike and need a more aggressive fit for more power - and I'm just fine with that! I knew I had to get some running in today also, so seeing as the gym was around the corner from the bike shop I went and did a few intervals on the treadmill (which actually went really well) and then ventured out for a first go on the bike.

We went through how to get into and out of clip pedals in the store - of course this isn't a big deal when your bike is stabilized for you - this task gets a bit more daunting when you're out there on your own steam! I decided to play it safe getting onto the bike, and walked into a park in the residential area to get on the bike - amazing this all went well with no issues at all. It's quite a hilly area and I was amazed at how easy it was to just push through the hills - getting power on the pull as well as the push is a novel concept for me! So probably a bit full of joy at this realization I figured I'd ride home from here - only catch being that there was a major road between me and my quiet road home. I knew the theory of pushing out to the side to release the clip, and had done it on a stable bike in the shop, but not in practice yet... didn't help that the first time doing this is at the intersection of the major road at the top of a hill, so I wasn't able to coast into my stop - you can see what's coming here can't you...

Thankfully only one person saw this happen and was kind enough to ask if I was ok, rather than just stand there laughing at the whole situation. I landed palm first, so a bit of road rash on the palm, and a bit achy through the arm now (I know, not the smartest way to land either...) but apart from a bit of scratching on the side of the pedal the bike is unscathed (Huge sigh of relief there!), and I'll keep playing over the voice of the bike shop guy, that everyone falls their first time using clip pedals.... if you tell me you didn't I'll simply assume you're lying to make myself feel better!

It didn't discourage me enough to stop me getting back on again though - on the other side of the road of course! The ride home was easy, and with a down-hill coming to my house I was able to think a bit more clearly for this second un-clipping, and it went off without a hitch this time.

So, now I'm all learned in the ways of falling and not falling off a bike... oh boy, I'm never going to hear the end of this from Ian, my husband - he still hasn't let me forget falling off my bike coming out of the bike transition in last year's triathlon.... maybe there's hope yet for him to be kind! (Not likely - I know what I'd do if I were him!) :-)

Bike!!!!

So I went to the Spring Bike show this past weekend - never have I been so overwhelmed by so much terminology I had no clue about - I'm used to lots of acronyms and tech talk from working in the IT field, but obviously I have a lot to learn about the bike field - if I want to of course! Anyhow, mission was accomplished!

I'm now the proud, excited, pleased, happy, delighted, gratified, thrilled owner of a Louis Garneau Axis 4.0 (perhaps didn't know where to stop with the adjectives there, but that's just how excited I am!). As you can see from my photo it's missing pedals at the moment - which given how gorgeous our weather has been at the moment is quite frustrating - but with any luck I should be getting it fitted for me tomorrow. From all the bike shops that showed up, I in fact ended up buying it from the vendor whose store is at the top of the road from where I live - about a 5 minute walk from me. Makes getting fitted and tune-ups mighty handy!

I also sat down on Tuesday this week and started laying out my training plan for the June 26th triathlon - turns out I should have started training on the Monday before I laid out my plan... ah... and then to add insult on top of that, today was a planned swim, so checked the online schedule for my local pool that indicated they were open from 8:30-9:30 this evening - got there on the dot of 8:30 to be told they've changed the schedule for this month and lane swim actually started at 6:30 and finished at 8:30. *sigh*

I do have some glimmer of hope on the swimming horizon though - I've got an assessment swim lined up for the end of this month with EOMAC - the Etobicoke masters swimming club. It's not a guarantee that there'll be a space in the lane that I'm most suited to with them, but it's a chance at least, and that's a whole lot closer than I'd been getting previously!

At the same time at the end of this month the ridiculously early Wednesday morning running group starts up again. It's always hard getting up when the alarm goes off at 5:15am, but the group is good, and the run pushes me a lot. So, painful, yes, but satisfying all at the same time.

So in summary: swim = hopeful, bike = happy, run = devastatingly early, but satisfying

Traveling, Training & Sustenance

(Yeah, you try finding a word that means food or eating that starts with a "T" - it would have been such a better title though...)

So I'm traveling for my job at the moment, and will be heading down to Florida at the end of the month for a bit of vacation time. At the same time I'm trying to keep up with all my regular training. I'm in Montréal at the moment, and while the hotel I'm in doesn't have it's own gym, they're right next door to a Gold's Gym that they have a deal with. You buy your day pass, and then you're in for any of their classes and using the gym. They have a full spinning studio, yoga room, cardio/step room, a cardio theatre (room full of eliptical and treadmills, dim lights and a huge screen they project movies onto), more cardio machines than I've probably ever seen before, and a full weights area also. They have a "Women's gym" also which made me laugh - it's a tiny cramped area with a couple treadmills, and a very limited amount of light weights... I suppose it's somewhere to start! It's seriously the sort of place that you could get lost in it's so huge. After a bit of cardio on Sunday, I had a weights session scheduled for Monday, but thought I'd throw in a spinning class before that as a warm-up - especially seeing as it was all in the price of the day pass! It may have been the most surreal spinning class I've ever experienced. To start with there must have been about 50 spin bikes in the room - and it was full. The instructor caught me on the way in to make sure this wasn't my first class ever, and then we were off. I knew I was in for trouble when the music started up - apparently this was the "latest" from Miami... the only way I could best describe it was as jungle beat house music, and it was loud! Instructor dude then yells something unintelligible in French (I presume!), and a number of other class members whoop and yell back at him... huh... The instructor had more energy than anyone I've ever seen on a spin bike - seriously, he was pushing so hard he was constantly pushing himself out of the saddle! Lots of really long hard sets, with more unintelligible French - I managed to catch a few countdowns which I can confirm were in french in there we got the first "break" half way through the class. Apparently instructor dude wasn't impressed with the "latest from Miami" and wanted to go back to his music... I'm not sure I entirely noticed the difference.... a bit more yelling from instructor and we're off again - he waves to a girl in the corner by the light switch, she kills the lights in the room, and in the wall behind him is another switch for his multicoloured disco lights... so to recap, 50 people spinning like mad in a darkened room, disco lighting, crazy jungle club beat and over-energized instructor shouting random instructions in French.... yeah, that was some class... After that the weights session was completely uneventful!

So I'll be making use of the classes and the gym here over the next week I'm here in Montréal, back home for a bit, then off for a bit of sun. Only a couple of the places we're staying on our roadtrip down to and around Florida have gyms in them, so it'll be improvisation outside - which I'm actually rather looking forward to - honestly how can running on the beach in the sun be bad! Yeah, you can envy me now ;-)

One of the hardest things I find with traveling is dealing with my diet. I try to find places to stay that have kitchenettes, but no such luck on this trip, so it's a week of educated choices! Even without a fridge I still manage to stock up on bits and pieces for in the room, and snacks while I'm working - things like fruit, raw unsalted nuts, and bottled water. Dinner is always the meal that causes me most issues though, I've done ok so far in discovering the "Delicious Alternatives" menu from Boston Pizza, and a create-your-own meal off a pick and mix menu in an Asian kitchen. It's more the temptation of the not so smart choices staring me in the face on each of these menus that threaten me - will power is winning so far though - that and the fear of wearing a swimsuit on the beach in less than a month!