First Ride of the Year in Gatineau Park!

Joy here...On Friday evening, I ended up stubbing my little toe so badly that I think I've fractured it.  It's swollen and there's a horrible purple line running down it.  Whatever the case, I figured that I should hold off on running and maybe head out for a bike ride instead, which is how I ended up out there on Saturday's 40km, full-bladder ride, and since the pain of the toe isn't so bad on the bike as it is walking, I figured another bike ride wouldn't hurt it.

So I was able to get my trusty friend, the Sashinator, to agree to meet up with me on Sunday morning while The Man headed out for his own ride with a new friend we've made WHO USED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST.  So, um, yeah, we weren't up for riding with those two maniacs.  But we were up for a ride in the park.

The park seems to feature prominently on this blog.  I've ridden there in the height of summer, getting glorious views from the Champlain Lookout; I've ridden up to get the views of the autumnal colours; and each time I ride in the park, the first challenge is to make it up the Pink Lake climb.

Pink Lake, still covered with a layer of ice.

In the early season, it's too ambitious to think that I'd be up for a full loop of the park; last year at the end of April, my first couple of bike rides were just up to the Pink Lake lookout and back home.  This year it's only March, but the Sashinator and I rode up to Pink Lake lookout and then continued on further into the park, almost convincing ourselves to carry on and do a loop.  But luckily for us, our brains prevailed, and we turned around and headed for home before finding ourselves halfway through a much tougher ride than our legs can handle in a day that turned cool and wet.

So, broken toe and all, I had an enjoyable ride in the park, letting myself have those "wheeeee!" feelings as I rode down from the Pink Lake climb and made it home just as the guys got home from their power ride.  My ride was 50kms door-to-door, so even with a fractured baby to, I still managed around 90kms this weekend.

Now I just have to get out there and run!

Over and out,
Joy

Please...I have to pee!

Joy here...The wind was howling on Saturday morning, but The Man, a friend of ours, and I put on our layers and headed out the door to ride on that Aviation Parkway near the Aviation museum where Cili Padi and I rode last weekend.  The Aviation museum is one of Canada's national museums and houses a huge collection of flight-related paraphernalia.  More importantly, I usually use its lovely washroom facilities as either part of my pre-ride or post-ride experience.  If you've read this blog before, you'll likely have come upon the realization that my bladder is the size of a peanut.  Both my 5km race experience and 30km race experience were adversely affected by my need to pee at the start line, and usually out on my rides I scope out the best bathrooms.  So as we rode through the early morning streets I was already thinking about that museum's bathroom, knowing that as we pulled into the parking lot, I'd be able to use a real, flushing toilet before turning out for the out-and-back along the windy parkway under a grey sky.

But it was not to be.

I was not allowed to pee.

It turns out that while the museum wasn't yet open, there were people inside, and one of them, a burly "gym guy" who looks like he's very good at following orders, giving orders, but not so very good at thinking for himself or using common sense, barred the door and told me "we're closed."  When I asked (with my most cute and slightly pathetic voice) if I could just scoot in to use the toilet, I was told "no."  So all I can hope is that one day this guy's wife will be heavily pregnant, will have the terrible urge to pee, and be denied access to a federally-funded museum space that his and her tax dollars paid for.  Then, maybe then, he'll understand my pain.

Or I could just kick him in the nuts.

Instead, I hopped on my bike with my friends and rode out to the outhouse along the way that is open year round and not guarded by a gorilla-type fella.

 So while our door-to-door ride was a chilly 40kms all up, I'm just happy that I didn't pee my pants.  Phewf!  

Over and out, 

Joy

First Outdoor Bike Ride of the Year!

Cross Eye all ready for the first ride
of the season!

Joy here...We've been having some incredible March weather lately.  On March 2nd we were skiing in the snow, and a weak-ish later I was out the door running in +15C temperatures.  Since then, the temperatures have topped out at +29C!  Given that the average high temperature for March in Ottawa is around +4C, I really just don't know what to make of all of this, but if it's climate change, I will take it, and thank you.

And as a consequence of this lovely la niña weather, I was out the door on my bike on Sunday morning for my first outdoor bike ride of the year.  Last spring, my first outdoor bike ride was April 3rd, and it was a cool -2C when I started.  This year the temperature was already nearly +10C in the morning, and it was +22C by the time I got back from my bike ride around noonish.

Look at that fog!

Let me tell you, it was one of my favourite bike rides to date.  Because this unseasonable warm weather is crashing up against the remaining winter's chill - the residual snow on the ground and the ice too thick to be fully melted - as we rolled out towards the strip of road where we would ride an out-and-back loop (7.5km one way) a couple of times, the air was full of fog.  We were wrapped in a chill cloud that kept the landscape all around us misted in milk, and so as we rode the stretch of road ahead of us only revealed itself the further we went into the clouds as the road behind us disappeared.

One part of the bike path that was a little
too snowy to ride through (I guess
The Trainer knew what she was doing when
she decided to wait for a full thaw!).

Many of the cycling sisterhood from last summer (a total of 6 of us:  The Trainer, The Professor, Power Penna, The Sashinator, Cili Padi, and myself) weren't available for this ride.  The Trainer isn't riding until there's no possibility of snow or ice on the path; The Professor went back to bed with her third sinus cold this year; Power Penna just told us that SHE'S PREGNANT; and the Sashinator had out-of-town guests, so Cili Padi and I were a sisterhood of two out there in that early morning mist and fog, testing out our legs and our balance as the sun slowly rose up above the fog and made the mists begin to dissipate, revealing a spring landscape that had hidden beneath the blanket.

As the sun came out and the blue sky shone, we could
see the chunks of ice still floating in the river like
mini-ice bergs.

Last year when we did this ride, we drove our cars from our houses, met up in the parking lot, and then rode our bikes out and back only once, for a total of 15kms.  This year, Cili Padi rode over to my house on her bike, and then the two of us made our way out to that particular parkway (which is where time trials are held throughout the summer months).  That's probably a 15km bike ride there and back itself.  And then we rode the parkway twice for a total of 30kms.  And while last year we were happy to keep our speed somewhere around 21kms/hr, this year, we easily trundled along at around 26kms/hr.  Now for this early in the season and for a cross bike (with bigger, slower tires) that's not too bad.  Whenever I feel like I don't have any fitness and I can't do the things that I dream of doing, I like to be able to have real data like this so that I can compare one year to another.  Because right now, even though I don't feel like I'm in good shape, and don't think that I've got any real fitness as spring unfurls around me, I have objective data to counter that and give me some much-needed confidence moving forward.

Oh, and the bright sun and blue sky that cleared away all that fog also helped!  I rode home, saying a fond farewell to Cili Padi who is off to France for a month, and felt those endorphin feelings of happiness that I haven't felt in a long time.

Cili Padi with her red hot jacket!

Me with my friendly, pink bike computer!

So that spring bike ride was a little ride for the soul, a little bit of cheap therapy, and a little boost to the ego.  And all is right in my world.

Over and out,

Joy

Something is better than nothing...

Joy here...Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, the day when the Luck O' the Irish runs nearly as freely as the beer around here, what with one of Canada's founding fathers (D'Arcy McGee) being Irish.  But I can tell you that I was not feeling lucky nor celebratory.  In fact, I was cuddled up for most of the day, deep into a good book.  And while the author and I embarked on the powerful ebb and flow of co-creation of the world that pulses and throbs when a reader interacts with a text, I had no intention of going out for a run.  By the time I looked up from my hefty tome and pulled my brain from the place where it had been dancing among the pages, I realized that I would not have time for my 70minute run before I had to head over to friends' place for dinner.  I was about to admit defeat and pick up my book again to squeeze in another chapter (or two), when The Man said, "you might as well just get out there for a run, even a 40 minute run is better than nothing."

And he was right.

I put down my book, laced up my shoes, headed out the door, and squeezed in my same 7.5km loop that I've been doing on all my recent runs, and the time outdoors let me clear my head, return from the imagined land of the book, and get into a more social frame of mind so that I'd be able to enjoy dinner amongst friends and not wish that I was curled back up on the couch reading my book!

So while there was no green beer in my life on this year's St. Patty's Day and no Blarney Stone to kiss to give me the gift of the gab, there was a beautiful blue sky, a warm(ish) breeze against my cheeks, and a sense that any run is better than no run.  As the Trainer once told me, any workout is a success.  So even though I didn't run as long or as fast as I had planned, at least I got myself up off the couch and out the door!

Over and out, 

Joy

I'm meeelllltttiiiing...

Joy here...In the 1939 cinematic classic, The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is finally defeated when in an attempt to put out a fire, Dorothy throws water over her rival, causing the witch to shriek:  "I'm meeelllltttiiiing..." as all watch her dissolve before their very eyes.

Last year I personified Spring as a fickle biotch, coming and going on a whim, and right now I feel as though I can personify Winter as this wicked witch, melting before my very eyes.

It's a full month too early for me to be thinking that spring is here to stay, but as I look around me at the puddles of water that were once piles of snow; as I put on my sleeveless running top (yes, SLEEVELESS!!!); as I run over sidewalks that are entirely clear, I begin to think that winter may just be on her last legs, melting before my eyes.  And just as I never felt fully satisfied with the death of that Wicked Witch, somehow feeling like it was too easy to defeat her that way and she might just make her comeback, I still feel a bit uneasy with this apparent death of winter.  She may just make her comeback any day, and I better be on guard for it.

But until she does, I intend to enjoy running in lovely weather.  I mean, I thought I had died and gone to spring heaven last week when I ran at 12 C, but last evening when I headed out the door for a run at around 6pm, it was 15 C!!!  It was positively steamy as I ran, with only 3/4 length tights and a sleeveless top.   To put it into perspective, when I ran Hamilton's 30km race last March, it was -10C at the start line, and I was wearing winter-weight tights, a woollen under layer top, a wool jersey, a wind vest, mitts, and a hat!  So having bare skin showing is like some kind of surreal experience at this time of the year.

Click here to see this same spot at the end of January for
the sake of comparison!

The frozen canal is filling up with water and beginning to melt, and all the fair weather runners have come out of their winter hibernation to enjoy the weather.  So as I ran yesterday, just trying to shake the travelling out of my legs and get back into a rhythm, I wasn't alone.  There was a whole community of runners out there with me, smiling and waving as we passed each other as if to say "isn't this great?" to each and every person we saw.  And with all that positive energy, warmth, encouragement, and happiness all around me, I seemed to have lighter and lighter feet.

Without doing any specific training or anything yet, and just struggling to get some kilometres in my legs, I found that I ran faster yesterday than I did all last week.  On Tuesday of last week, I ran the same 7.5km loop with an average speed of 6:13min/km, by Wednesday's spring run the day later, I ran that 7.5km loop with an average speed of 5:55min/km, and this week I ran that same 7.5km loop with an average pace of 5:42min/km.  And while I'm not really worried about pace or anything like that at this point in my training, it is rather nice to see some real progress without feeling like I'm working for it.

So Winter, you just keep on melting away, and I will dance my way into Summer's Emerald City with a smile on my face and a spring in my step!

Over and out,

Joy

New York City, Baby!

Joy here...After my double-double workout at my gym where my awesome spinning instructor and then The Trainer took turns putting me through my paces (which is nothing out of the ordinary), I hopped on a plane for New York City.  I had an all-day meeting there for work planned for Friday, and so I figured I would just stay for the whole weekend.

Central Park

My workout plan while away was extensive:  I was going to run in Central Park; I checked out the gym at the hotel; I was going to run up Fifth Avenue in the early hours of the morning...in short, I wasn't going to let my training slide due to travel (like it usually does:  I wrote about this problem with training and travelling in September 2010, February 2011, July 2011, and November 2011, just to name a few).

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, while I got up bright and early on Friday morning to run for 50 minutes on the treadmill in the hotel's gym before my all-day long meeting (not even a lunch break!), that was the last run that I managed during my weekend in Manhattan.

Times Square

Instead, there was lots of walking around and shopping and eating, but if you're me and your travelling companion isn't a runner, then it can be hard to make that person wait for an hour while you get your workout in.  (In my case my NYC partner in crime was my sister who left her kid at home to meet up with me for the weekend and have some sister bonding time.)  It somehow seems rude to leave them sitting there waiting.  The alternative is to wake up really early before they do, but that also doesn't really work, because chances are you were out having a lovely dinner until late at night the evening previous, so do you really want to wake up extra early only to be tired and grouchy all day?  It's quite the dilemma.  I opted for not pushing my own agenda and putting my running to the side for a couple of days, but with that 1/2 marathon getting closer and closer, I can't afford to do that very often.

The view from my hotel room.

Since my life after being a professor has involved travelling a fair bit, and since The Man and I try to get to Malaysia at least once a year, this issue with working out and travelling is one that isn't going to go away any time soon.  I guess I've just got to figure out how to screw up my courage enough to be a bit rude to those I'm travelling with so that I can get my run in no matter what.  I can just take a page from the New Yorkers' book and be pushy and aggressive, getting what I want and still being loved for it!

Over and out,
Joy

Dear Spring, Thank you!

Joy here...I know that spring can be a fickle season, teasing you with warm breezes, flower buds, and chirping birds one day only to beat you down with howling winds, frozen ice, and falling snow the next.  I remember last year when it snowed in April a week after the temperature was around +16C.  And I know that when I ran my 30km "Around the Bay" race at the end of March last year it was -10C at the start line.  So even though the wind howled all weekend and I ran a winter run yesterday, I know that I can't get too excited about the long term potential of today's beautiful weather.  I suppose I am what you might call cautiously optimistic at the moment, too wary of thinking that the spring-like weather might really be here to stay.  It is, after all, only March 7th.

Today's temperature!

However, what a March 7th it is!  I could feel the sun beaming through my windows this morning, and as I opened the front door, I actually felt warmth from the outside for the first time in months.  And as I had about a million and one errands to run throughout the day, I did them all with a spring to my step and a smile on my lips that only nice weather can bring.

And so by the end of the day when I laced up my running shoes and put on my running tights (the 3/4 length ones that I haven't worn outside since the fall sometime), I couldn't have been happier.  The weather was warm and the world outside my door was filled with spring runners invigorated by the lovely weather, even if it doesn't stay.

Early evening settling on the spring city.

And as I ran, I found myself running against a headwind for a good, long stretch of my regular loop.  But instead of feeling beaten and broken by the elements, this southerly wind was no problem at all.  Sure I might have run a little slower into that headwind, but it didn't bother me, and when I turned around and headed for home and had a lovely spring breeze as a tailwind behind me as the sun set above and dusk settled on my shoulders, that spring in my step turned to an increased bit of energy and a bit of unexpected pep in my run.

In fact, I ran the exact same 7.5km loop as yesterday, but while yesterday it took me around 47minutes to run that loop, today it took me 44minutes, yet I didn't feel like I was putting in any more of an effort or running any harder.  While my average speed yesterday was 6:13min/km, my average speed today was 5:55min/km.  And I didn't suddenly get faster or fitter between today and yesterday.  The only significant difference is that today's run was a lovely spring run with a warm breeze and a sense of change in the air.

And whether or not the weather stays nice and lovely like this is really beside the point.  I simply plan to enjoy today and be thankful for a lovely spring day.  Even if it's not here to stay!

Over and out,

Joy

Winter's Last, Brutal Kick???

Joy here...February 2nd is Groundhog Day here in North America, and while Bill Murray may have made that day famous in his movie where he is doomed to live the same day over and over again and Punxsutawney Phil and Wiarton Willie are a couple of groundhogs in the US and Canada who pop up on that day in the middle of winter to make their little, furry prediction about how much winter is left until spring arrives, it really just remains to be seen whether or not a little rodent (cute as he may be) can really predict spring's arrival.

But after Friday's great ski in newly fallen snow, winter began to kick and fight rather harshly against the rodents' predictions of an early spring.  Saturday came with howling northerly winds gusting up to 70km/hr, closing out the day with blowing, icy snow.  Instead of running out there in that, I settled onto the bike for a 60minute ride in the basement and then did some pushups afterwards, staying nice and toasty warm indoors.

Can you see how crusty that is?

Then on Sunday, The Man, the Sashinator, and I all headed back out to that park to do a ski loop.  To quote Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman:  "Big mistake. Big. Huge."  All that wintery wind and ice from Saturday had turned the entire landscape into a frozen skating rink.  Instead of snow that you could easily glide and ski through, feeling your legs push with each step, we were stuck trying to move sticks over a layer of snow frozen solid.  Imagine a crusty layer that crunches, but does not break, and you'll get a sense for what we tried to "ski" through.  But, being the troopers we are, we stuck at it for an hour, not getting any grip or any good glide, but doing our crunch, crunch, crunch loop nonetheless.

After that, when Monday came, I just curled up on the couch when it was time for me to do a workout and watched some special features on my 8-movie set of Harry Potter blu-ray discs.

But Tuesday came, and I dutifully put on my minimus running shoes to head out the door.  My last run was two weeks ago, so I was a little worried.  At this rate, I'm not going to get to the finish line of my upcoming 1/2 marathon, but when faced with a kind of lag in training, all one can do is get out there and just keep going.  So that's what I did.  I was out the door in the cold, chill air that the weather network is predicting just might be the end of winter.  By Wednesday, so the predictions say, we might be experiencing +10C temperatures.  And so while I didn't run far, and I didn't run fast, as the tips of my fingers felt chilled right through my gloves, I just told myself over and over again that it might just be the last, brutal kick of winter.

And that, my friends, is something to celebrate!

So if I can't celebrate a milestone run where I was super fast or super fit, I can celebrate a milestone run that may just bring along the end of winter.

We'll see.

Over and out,
Joy

TGIF!

Snow Shadow Ski Joy

Joy here...Back when The Man and I first started dating we enjoyed the fact that we weren't TGIF folks, you know the type, those who have a job which is full of drudgery that they struggle through each week, just waiting until Friday rolls around so that they can relax into themselves and do what they want.

At the time, we were obsessed with our work, and so for us, a Friday was no different than a Monday or a Saturday; they were all work days.  We just worked all the time, and couldn't imagine anyone not wanting to be enveloped in a world of work that was intellectually stimulating and rewarding.  When we weren't working, we were talking about work.

Okay...so that was 5 years ago...

...fast forward to now:  We've gotten over the delusion that work is something good in and of itself and the notion that working all the time is somehow something to be desired.  In fact, the pendulum has swung the other way in our life, and we are now happy to be able to try to contain work to the minimum hours necessary and to be able to have a flexible work schedule that allows us to sneak out and have a workout in the middle of what would be a "work day" were we one of those with a 9-5 job of drudgery.

The beauty of a still and snowy TGIF morning.

So while TGIF still doesn't mean anything particularly special to us, because a Friday is just like any other day, a day in which work and life must be balanced in a healthy and productive way, this Friday we made it our own TGIF by heading out first thing in the morning for a quick ski before starting our work day.

No one else was out there except for the vehicle that goes over the fresh snow (that has fallen without stopping all week), making new grooming trails for our cross country skis.  So we got the chance to ski out there under a snow white sky surrounded by a snow white world as the very first ones to use the newly groomed tracks.

So we worked up a good glide shifting our weight from one foot to the other and we did the loop around this particular park (a little over 5kms, I think).  And after 40 minutes, we were good and worked out.  Our legs were aching from our Thursday workouts, as were our arms, and with the full-body motion necessary to get the full fun of cross-country skiing, we really felt that we were getting a good workout in.  By the time we made it back to the car it was only around 9am.

So while most people out there would be settling into their desk or their cubicle, starting their TGIF and already thinking about their weekend, we were packing our skis back in the car to head home, feeling refreshed, invigorated, and excited, ready to tackle whatever the day was going to bring to us.

And so I say:  Thank Goodness it's Friday!

A beautiful winter landscape...thank goodness!

Over and out, 

Joy

That's the Point!

That's what's outside my front door???
Maybe I'll just go back inside.

Joy here...While Sunday's ski was invigorating and exciting, the rest of the week unfolded with snow, snow, and more snow.  Each time I tried to get the energy up to head out the door for a run, I would open the door, be faced with a veritable blizzard, and simply turn right back around inside and settle down on the couch.

Now that's no way to get me to the finish line of a 1/2 marathon with a smile on my face, which is my key goal for this end-of-May running race that I've signed up on, and I know it.  But there's often a difference between what one knows one should do and what one actually gets out the door and does.

And so while I grappled with that dichotomy between knowing better, but not doing better (thank you Oprah for that phrase, which I've mangled), I did get to my spinning class on Thursday morning, followed by my strength training session on Thursday afternoon.  My spinning instructor is a really great, inspiring cancer-survivor who makes my Thursday morning awesome each week, and my Trainer is now a good friend.  So between these two women kicking my butt at different times on a Thursday, I began to feel better and better...maybe there is something to that mission statement of the gym where I go for my Thursday morning and afternoon boost of energy, pain, endorphins, and confidence:

Commitment to the Process.  Commitment to oneself.  Commitment to the Commitment.  That's the Point.

Got it!

Over and out,

Joy