Recovery week!

I was looking forward to recovery week and getting in a 15km run with Chris today. Things started off well then about 2km Chris felt pain in the back of his knee again. ( he tore his achilles tendon last year and it took a good year to heal so he has to be careful ) He injured something last week behind his knee and it still hasn't fully healed this week.  Unfortunately that meant no running for Chris today!
He sat on the bench like a sad panda bear while I ran a few loops around the nature trails.
He witnessed a duck nearly attack me as I ran over a bridge with momma duck and her babies hiding below. I at least was familiar with the duck attack location since it was the same spot I was attacked when I was training for Ironman Louisville.
I can't really blame the duck since she is protecting her babies. When she hears someone stomping up above, she freaks out and chases you down!
I can see why they post a danger sign on the bridge. It has to be because of the killer ducks, not the faulty boards! haha


After the run we planned on some swim training. We almost didn't make it.
BEWARE OF THE CHAIR!!
Yes, it's a mistake to sit down in between sessions!

We got in approximately 1500m in the pool. A nice easy swim day. It was great to have the company and I'm hoping Chris heals fast!!!

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Flo Wheelset

What a difference a wheel set can make!!! Jen has her new Flo wheel set on and she loves these wheels!! Front Flo 30's with a rear Flo 60, yes I am thinking about stealing her bike for a ride soon!!
My rear Flo 90 gets tested tomorrow!!!
C.

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Chris is back!!

Well it has been awhile since I have done a blog post but hey I have been busy training! lol.
I would post more but I have an old crappy work blackberry that takes horrible pics and my wife has an iPhone  5 which works seamlessly with our home Mac network! (I love apple products)
This past week I have had 2 solid 145 km bike training days. I had the week off and decided to bike up to our cottage in Port Franks. I was really looking forward to this ride expecting a tailwind the entire way, since everyday I have rode this year has been a tailwind in that direction.
The ride started off great for the first 20km, a couple of rolling hills and I was really looking forward to the rest of the ride which was relatively flat.
Then the wind decided to do the opposite of what I was expecting... dead on headwinds of 30-55km/hr for the rest of the entire ride. That's 120 km of brutal headwind and a lot of cursing and swearing!!!
It was the most difficult ride I have ever done and have never faced winds like this for this looooong!!

Yes it was extremely difficult but I was going to the cottage and battled through every bad thought I had and thought about everything I loved about our cottage to get me there!
The cursing and swearing was still there but I made it, and afterwards I am thankful for those strong winds which made me stronger!

The ride home was much easier, I had no winds to battle and didn't have to take any side roads for safety issues. On the ride to Port Franks I had to turn off Hwy 23 from the strong crosswinds which were pushing me into traffic on the unshouldered roads and walk my bike on gravelled road for a couple km's.
Otherwise It was a great ride both ways and can't wait to ride back to our cottage in the next couple weeks!
And another highlight was I had my first open water swim while I was at the cottage. What a difference open water swimming is, and I thought my swimming was improving, lol!

Anyway I have some photos on my phone but of course I cannot download them for unknown reasons so I will post some pics of the recent upgrades I did to my bike this week. I upgraded from a 9 spd to 10 spd with a new 10-28 cassette, new rear derailleur and new bar end shifters. I tested everything out tonight and what a difference it makes on the hills! Love cycling!!

Extremely excited about my new rear Flo 90 and can't wait to get a front Flo 60!!
C.

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140km long ride

Today was a L O N G day!
Lisa suggested we switch up the route a little and ride out to Anna Mae's for breakfast. She didn't have to twist my arm much! Long training days can become mentally and physically exhausting. It's nice to not take things too seriously and enjoy the journey.
After breakfast we headed out to some hills and planned on some hill repeats. It was there that we ran in to the cyclist that had helped Lisa last week when she was stopped on the side of the road with chain issues. We chatted with him for a few minutes and discovered he is Ryan Aitcheson  a professional cyclist riding for team Atellas. We have some fast cyclists in our home town!  We were nearing the end of our ride otherwise we would have challenged him to a race.     Haha!!

You can tell we were entering mennonite country. The cute little girl was watching us intently as we cycled up the hill behind her.

Lisa and I went our separate ways at 110km and headed home. We had planned to ride 140km.
We both misjudged our distance and ended up doing 145km. Math plus an exhausted brain do not go well together!! Besides, we always joke that we share half a brain, and she took my half home with her!

After a long day, I was DONE!

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Warning do not drink the water!

Chris rode 140km up to the cottage on Friday and faced the most brutal headwinds the entire way there. He said the wind was actually pushing him backwards! Definitely the most difficult ride he has ever done. He chalked it up to some good solid training!

I managed to get my solo long ride in up at the cottage yesterday. I wasn't too sure if I would be able to since I'm unfamiliar with the roads.  It seems there are more  gravel roads and busy highway roads than quite country roads up there.

I was also unfamiliar with water spots to top up my water. I ended running out of water half way through my ride at 60km.Yikes! I rode for 5km without water and thought I hit the jack pot when I saw a water pump at the side of the road. Then I read the sign DO NOT DRINK THE WATER ! I was at least willing to taste the water but it was broken anyway !

Usually churches or county stores is where we fill up, so when I saw a church across the street from the water pump I was grateful that I would be able to get some water at the church.
After riding for awhile my mind becomes just as fatigued as the rest of me, and I couldn't figure out why the church had a gate across it. A lady was standing on the other side of the gate and I asked her if this was a church or a home. It was her home of course! Anyway, she was kind enough to fill up my bottles with water from her fridge and off I went to finish the rest of my ride.

Close to the end of my ride I ran out of nutrition. I saw a fruit stand at the side of the road so I stopped in, I was craving a peach!
Another fail. The fruit store was completely empty except for a few baskets of strawberries.
How does that saying go?  Failing to plan is planning to fail!!!
I was grateful to get my ride in but I called it a day after 110km!

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Sometimes plans change...

Sometimes plans change...

Thursday's are typically my long ride with Lisa, however on Thursday June 12th Lisa headed up to Mont Tremblant to attend Nigel Gray's training camp. I was not eager to put in 120km on my own on Thursday but I knew I had to get it done. That was until my daughter woke up not well and she had to stay home from school :(  

No worries, I would just make up the long ride on the weekend. 

Instead of the long ride, later that evening I went out for a short 30km ride. It was a beautiful evening and I couldn't help but "stop for pop! "

I was feeling a little guilty for stopping during such a short ride, that was until I started riding again and saw a major accident 2km down the road, IN my bike lane! 

I stopped to make sure everyone was o.k, besides a badly damaged car thankfully everyone was okay.

Needless to say I was glad I stopped for pop.

Be safe out there everyone!!

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A tough 120km ride!

As soon as the kids were off to school I headed out to meet Lisa on the same country road that we always meet up on. The wind came out of nowhere today and it was relentless. A swirling wind that was draining our energy at every turn. 

It looks like we are sitting suntanning ( as my husbands says) however Lisa had to make some adjustments to her new Trek bike she just bought. We stopped to adjust Lisa's cleats because she was

experience hot foot. ( metatarsalgia )

Our fuel consisted of power gels, honey stinger waffles, sesame snaps,power bar gel blasts, ironman perform, and a bag of chips from the home hardware store! 

The highlight of today's ride most definitely came at the end of the ride!

Another long ride in the bank!

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Fitting it in when you can!

Training for Ironman involves being creative and fitting in a workout when you can!

I squeezed in this 10km run by getting dropped off at work and then running home after work. I came up with a really nice scenic route that involves about 95% trail.

It's probably not the best idea for a photographer to train with a camera:) It's so easy to stop and capture the beauty of nature all around me. However it makes training even that much more enjoyable. Combining my passion for photography,training and the outdoors!

Ironman for me is all about enjoying the journey, and that I am!

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First open water swim this year!

This was our first open water swim this year and it almost didn't happen!

We headed down to the beach for a swim with our wetsuits and the water was FREEZING!!!! Ice cube freezing!

We then tested the water in the river and it was almost as cold as the lake.

I knew of a smaller man made lake around the corner that would be warm so we walked over to that lake.

It was looking promising until we saw three HUGE carp lurking around the dock. 

We thought about it for a good 15 minutes but we just couldn't do it. I even waded in the water and splashed around to see if the monster fish would swim the other direction. The fish moved for a second but came right back towards us. Needless to say we had a good laugh at ourselves and our chicken like behaviour.

I can't imagine people who have to swim in water where sharks live. Yikes!!

We headed back to the beach to test the water again and the water was of course just as cold as we left it. 

We were getting ready to pack it in and call it a day. Lisa was taking off her wetsuit and I headed over to the river just to check the water one last time.  The water in the river was now warmer! I jumped in and looked over at Lisa and by this time her wetsuit was off. 

 Lisa really wanted to strangle me!  Back on went her wet wetsuit ( which is not an easy task!) and we managed 1000m swim in the murky river.

The water did not win! You know you are an Ironman when you are this stubborn!!! :) 

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