Riding up a Hill (or Balade à vélo jusqu'à une colline)

Resting at the top of the hill between sets.

Joy here...Wednesday morning rolled around and instead of being -8C, for the first time in a LONG time, it was +8C and so The Professor, The Spinning Instructor, and I all headed out to meet up with each other so that we could do some hill repeats up the Pink Lake climb in Gatineau Park.  (Cili Padi and Superdave headed out earlier to do some loops of the park...but stay tuned below for how that turned out).

I've written about hill repeats up Pink Lake before, such as one of the all-time favourite posts "Pink Ladies Conquer Pink Lake"from last summer, or this spring's "Spring Hill Repeats,"or the ones I did with Cili Padi who was very strong, "Hill Repeats."  The hill is short; it's steep; and riding up it builds musculature strength.  Also, it takes less time to ride up and down this hill a few times than it does to ride an entire loop of the park, and with all of us being a little pressed for time on a mid-week morning, we opted for the hill repeats.

Pink Lake through the mist.

The day was foggy and cloudy, and because of the 100% humidity it never really felt as warm as we were expecting.  It was a kind of cold and clammy day where the sweat you work up by pushing your body to the limit to ride up that steep hill clings to you and turns cold as you turn around to ride down the hill, pushing speeds to nearly 60km/hr.

My friends all cresting the hill together!

But as we pushed ourselves through the haze and fog of a morning that was chillier than we had hoped it would be, who should appear upon the horizon, her bright red jacket shining through the fog?  It was Cili Padi!  So as I pushed myself up that first hill repeat to crest the top, I met up with her, and The Professor and Spinning Instructor and I all joined up at the top to hear how she just didn't feel like doing a whole loop of the park, and decided to let Superdave carry on on his own as she rode back to join up with us.  (Personally, I think she just wanted to ride with the girls...after all there is something special about girl time.)

I've mentioned before that Cili Padi is French-Canadian and that The Professor is bilingual, working at an English-French university; well, the Spinning Instructor is also francophone, so as we rode through the mist and fog, I asked for them to just speak French on our rides so that I can practice listening (and eventually speaking, when I get over my nervousness), because all my French seems to be locked somewhere in the mists of my mind, and I can't make my way through it.

Seeing the lake through the trees (les arbres).

So as we finished our three repeats of Pink Lake--me whizzing past The Professor on the downhill and catching her with my own version of her tucked Bullet Move (see Sunday's blog entry for a full description)--and started making our way out of the park, the morning's haze and fog began to lift around us, but the fog of language began to descend upon me.  I was able to pick out a phrase here and there--"Joy est une grande cycliste"..."Elle est une bonne amie"..."Elle a les jambes solides"--surely that's what they said, right?  And slowly but surely, as we rode and the roads cleared before my eyes, my ears cleared too, and their French made more and more sense in my head.  It's only a matter of time before I have the courage to let that French come out of my mouth too!

I turned off to leave them and head for home--"Au revoir, mes amies"--and smiled to myself.  All in all, I rode 50kms door-to-door with my power output topping 240 watts as I rode up the climb.  Not too bad for someone who only recently decided to come up with a new cycling plan that includes hill repeats and still doesn't really know what she's doing.  Bravo, Joy!

Over and out,
Joy

Sunday, Windy Sunday (Loop #4)

The logo from the Trainer's gym (called the Point)

Joy here...On Thursday I met up with The Trainer for my strength training session--The Man was sick, so I was on my own--and she had me do something called "drop sets."  Basically what you do in a "drop set" is that you start off with the heaviest weight and do as many reps as you can before "failure" (literally when your arms can no longer lift the weight), and then without any rest in between, you get a lower weight and have to lift that as many times as you can, and when you fail with that (usually sooner than you might think), you get to lift the lightest weight until you fail with that...but, trust me, by that final set, the "light" weight doesn't feel very light at all!  So for an hour she ran me through a whole host of different exercises, getting me to failure again and again.  To quote The Trainer as she looked down at my prone form on her mats as I sweated from every pore and heaved my chest up and down with the effort of breathing:  "At The Point, failure is success!"

Well, I guess I had a whole lot of success, enough success that for both Friday and Saturday, I was wiped right out.  You should have seen me at the grocery store trying to lift up my bag of groceries...my arm was shaking like some kind of drug addict in withdrawal.

Look at that wind!

After those two days to recover from all that success I had, when Sunday rolled around, I was going to get out there on my bike to do my 65km bike ride loop of the park come hell or high water.

Well, we had neither hell nor high water, but we had apocalyptic type winds.  Wind makes many different sounds:  there's the sound of wind like crashing waves on the beach; wind that sounds like the light rustling of leaves; wind that sounds like a banshee howl; wind that sounds like falling rain or thunder; wind that sounds like a lover's soft breath on your ear; wind that sounds like a whispered word that you just can't understand; wind that sounds like rolling logs; wind that sounds like flapping and fluttering sheets on a laundry line; and let me tell you, we had every single sound of wind and then some roaring through our ears this morning.

The spring sun high in the sky above the winds.

And no matter what we did, that wind seemed to be either blowing right in our faces, slowing us down with each and every pedal stroke, or coming at us from the side, threatening to blow us right off the road.  Never did we get a tailwind pushing us along at speeds that made our hearts burst with excitement.  No, no, no matter what direction we seemed to be facing, we were fighting that wind.

As we topped the first hill and started the descent, I sat up carefully and held onto my handlebars to keep control in the howling winds, and lo and behold...The Professor just whizzed right past me.  She was tucked down in her aero position, not afraid of anything.  When I caught up to her I told her that she was brave, and Cili Padi and the Spinning Instructor echoed my sentiments.  "Well," said The Professor, "I just tuck down and I'm like a bullet just cutting through that wind."  Bullet she was!

Cili Padi just topping the steep part of the hill.

So on the next descent, I took a page out of her book and tucked myself down, using The Professor's patented Bullet Move, and she was right!  I just flew down that hill, cutting through the wind, hearing nothing but a roar in my ears.  It was like an auditorium full to capacity all on their feet and roaring their approval...those wind gods roared their approval as we fought our way through all that they threw our way today.  The sky was blue; the air was cold; and the wind swirled, and we were out their riding our little hearts out.

And my new bike purchase, my amazing new Di2 Pinarello, (which is still unnamed...I'm taking suggestions) didn't let me down.  My legs pumped as hard as they could against the wind, and that bike answered with speed.  Good thing, too, because there's another new bike in our little Team Sunday peloton.  Cili Padi bought herself an amazing new LOOK, also with Di2.  Today's windy ride was her first ride on the new bike, and she confirmed at the end that she's fallen in love.  With her bike that is.

Cili Padi's new bike on the left and mine on the right enjoy the view
from Champlain Lookout.

Even with drop sets lingering in my arms and howling winds battering us around the roads, I was able to ride out there amongst my friends and tackle our loop...but boy am I looking forward to the silence in the absence of wind as I seat myself down and relax for the rest of the afternoon.

Over and out,
Joy

Hill Repeats

Joy here...So in my last post, I outlined a plan for becoming a duathlete, and this plan included a Wednesday ride in the park that would ideally include some hill repeats.  On Wednesday morning, I planned to head out there to the park with the spinning instructor, Cili Padi, and The Professor.  But then I woke up with my alarm and went to get ready, and noticed that the roads were all wet.  Thinking "hmmmmmm, this doesn't look good..." I checked the weather network to find out that they were calling for flurries.  Now, I didn't feel so great about the idea of tearing down the hill at over 60km/hr on tires an inch thick while snow fell, so I sent off an email to the crew telling them that I was chickening out and I'd ride later in the day.

The Professor opted for an indoor ride instead; Cili Padi decided to wait and ride in the afternoon with me; and the spinning instructor headed out there with her dad.  It turns out that the weather network was dead wrong, and there was no snow.  The spinning instructor had a great ride, topping 56km/hr, which is a real feat for her, since she still tends to ride her brakes on the downhill sections.

By 3:45, I met up with Cili Padi and we headed to the park for our hill repeats.  They were tough.  It takes just under 5 minutes to climb up Pink Lake, and about 1 minute into the climb, I reach around 160beats/min according to my heart rate monitor.  Then I just try to keep that consistent until the top of the climb.  It's a bit of a sufferfest.  After the first one, I wasn't sure if I had another one in me.  After the second one, I was sure that I was done like dinner.  After the third one, I was thinking..."hey that wasn't so bad."  Cili Padi, didn't even think she'd stick around for the third repeat, but it was her fastest and strongest one!  The other ones were just warm ups for her.  One thing about being her age is that she's really got the endurance...I might have a quick punch of power that is stronger than hers in the short distance, but over the long haul, I don't think I'd hold a candle to her.

So all-in-all, we had a great three-peat up that climb...and I'm one step closer to being a duathlete.

Over and out,
Joy

These Are A Few Of Our Favourite things...

Nomi says,

I'm alive....I'm alive....

I know I've been slacking. Joy has been doing all the hard work, cycling like crazy, working like crazy and updating the blog. I am training, sort off, sporadically with Lulu for our upcoming marathon in Gold Coast.

Julie Andrews sang to her little charges - the VonTrapp children - in The Sound of Music about her favourite things, including:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens,

Brown paper packages tied up with strings,

...

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

...

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,

Silver white winters that melt into springs

But, let's be honest, who really cares about her favourite things?  What about our favourite things?  We know that you all care about those!!!

I know that a substantial chunk of my dough goes into running paraphernalia. We all have our favorite gels, shoes, tops, socks, sun block and etc. and etc. So to relieve the monotony of us writing about running and cycling, we decided to chit chat about the things that we like best.

So, I'm going to be writing in purple fonts and Joy in bright pink (the "colour of friendly" in her view):

FOOTWEAR:

   


SHOES....shoes....I think i have more running shoes than casual or work shoes. I have tried Nikes, Reeboks, New Balances, Saucony and so far , for me, the Nike Lunarglides suit the best for long runs. For 60 min runs, the New Balance Minimus are really nice and light. For 60 to 120 min runs. the New Balance 890's work fine. By using different levels of cushioning for different runs, the joints seem to hurt less.

Joy's shoes

Shoes:  Like Nomi, I definitely have more sport shoes than other kinds of shoes...Well, I used to wear Nike Lunarglides (the same as Nomi), but this past year I've been entering the wonderful world of minimal running shoes, so I've worn Vibram Five Fingers (the Bikila version for running) when there's no snow; I've worn the New Balance Minimuses when there is snow (because I can use thermal socks!); and I just bought a pair of Saucony runners for my upcoming 1/2 marathon.  But, since I'm riding my bike more than running these days, there's a good chance these shoes will see minimal usage for a while!


Hands down, though, my Vibrams are my favourites.  They're just so damn fun to run in, and I think if I lived in the tropics and could wear them all the time, I'd still be running and running and running.  When the weather in Ottawa finally warms up, I'm going to get out in them for some fast, short runs...I can't wait!

Nomi's socks

SOCKS:

Socks (I seriously cannot remember the brand name now) with Thorla pads (left pair) : They are seriously wonderful for long runs.  They are cushioned and comfortable and cause minimal blistering.

Sugoi : (right pair and a present from Joy)

I use them for shorter runs and for the gym. They are light, thin and breathable.

Barefoot is best!

My ideal motto in life would be:  Go barefoot when you can!  As a kid I used to run around without shoes and socks, and even as a teen and young woman, I would get these thick callouses on the bottoms of my feet throughout the summer so that I could walk across hot asphalt and not feel a thing.  Only later did I start to learn about pedicures and get the message that a "lady" has soft feet.  While that seemed wholly impractical to me, for a while in my twenties I caved into that sort of thinking.  Then in my thirties I took up running and my feet became mine again, not held hostage by notions of beauty that are just as stupid as back in the day when women's feet were bound...ugh.

As a runner, the wonderful world of blisters, bruised toes, and general foot comfort becomes really really really important.  I've gone through tonnes of different types of socks, and I've found that one key is:  having new pairs of socks (old ones lose elasticity and then you are more likely to get blisters).  I have ones like Nomi's (above); I have Nike socks; I have Icebreaker socks; I have Rapha socks; I have Adidas socks; and I have compression socks.  But all in all, I'd prefer my bare feet any day!

CLOTHING:

Nomi's clothes

TOPS:
I have used my ratty adidas top for 2 years now..there still are no holes in it. With age, it has become soft and pliant and so comfortable. It important to wear something light that evaporates sweat efficiently and doesn't stink to high heaven. Nike tops are nice too with realistic sizes. Here, some brands are catered to Asian sizes and you have to be toothpick thin to squeeze into even an M or L. So normal human beings might not be able to wear certain brands.

Joy's bras: Craft (good shape), Icebreaker
(good material), Columbia (good price)

Tops for me come in two categories:  ones with sleeves and ones without.  Basically, unless I'm wearing long sleeves because it's cold, I don't want sleeves.  This mainly has to do with how frustrating getting a "farmers' tan" is to me.  If I have to get tan lines, I'd rather at least have those tan lines appear at my shoulders rather than midway through my upper arm!


Another key point here about tops:  BRAS!  Now I'm not well endowed up there, so I don't need tonnes of support, but I still need a good sport bra.  Let me tell you, there's a huge market out there just waiting to be tapped.  I have Columbia sports bras, Icebreaker sports bras, and Craft cycling bras, and if I could combine aspects of each, then I might have one bra that works.  I'd take the price of the Columbia one (not too pricey) + the merino wool of the Icebreaker one (natural fibre is best) + the shape of the Craft one (comes in at the shoulders and doesn't cut in) = Joy's Ideal Sports Bra.


BOTTOMS:
The 2XU compression tights are the BEST. They really help with keeping everything from wobbling and help support the knees. The aches and pains post run are less with these and hoorah to these tights. 


On this one, I agree 100% with Nomi.  The 2XU compression tights are the best...they do such a good job of holding everything in and preventing unwanted jiggling, that hands down I get the most second looks at my butt when I'm out there running in my 2XUs.  You know the kind of double take that I'm talking about...I don't need to describe it.  (Also, Nomi used to make fun of my for my extra-long Nike shorts that she called my "granny shorts" that came down to my knees, and my compression tights are definitely an improvement in the attractiveness factor over those!)

NUTRITION:

Yummy, yummy GU...

FOOD/FUEL:
GU Chocolate Outrage flavour: I could eat it just for fun. It tastes so good and is so palatable. I tried other popular brands before this but they were sickly sweet and so hard to swallow/chew. Lulu recently gave me a taste of GU chomps and they are yummy. For my full marathon, I took one GU gel per hour up to a max of 4 gels. 

Joy's first- and second-place
GU flavours...mmmmm.

Back when I was training for my first half marathon, I tried Powergels instead of my tried and true, much-loved GU Chocolate Outrage, and nearly threw up at the side of the running path.  It was terrible.  I wrote about it on the blog, and ended up throwing out a whole bunch of them that sat around, gathering dust, and ultimately expiring, because they were just too gross to eat.  A very close second to the GU Chocolate Outrage flavour is the GU Chocolate Mint flavour.  Both are really tasty, and I use them on long runs and bike rides...who doesn't want an excuse for chocolate??

DRINKS:

Nomi's drinks.

100 Plus: is pretty much a Malaysian thing and i don't really know if you can get it anywhere else. It's a carbonated "sports drink' that's very popular. However, it is gassy and bubbles out of the water bottle to trickle down the backs of your thighs. 

Suntonic: Another option, but tastes too sweet for me in the correct dilution. And I am not sure if you can get it outside of Penang, Malaysia.

GU brew: is another alternative, where you mix one tab in 16oz water. It's not too sweet, a little gassy and a convenient option where only water is available at hydration stations and you want isotonic drinks.

Joy's drinks.

100 plus:  When I'm in Malaysia, I'll drink this diluted with water in my water bottle, but as it's fizzy (like Nomi says), it ends up making a high-pitched squealing sound as the gas escapes the bottle, and when I run, I want the only sounds coming from me.  No competition from my water bottle, thank you very much.


E-Load:  I used to use E-Load powder in my water bottle, and that's what I've used to hydrate at most of my races.  It's pretty good (the lemon flavour, not really any of the other flavours which are too sweet and gross tasting), but it's hard to travel with such a big container, and putting the powder in a zip lock isn't all that practical.


Endurolyte FIZZ (by Hammer nutrition):  These little tablets get dropped in the water and fizz away like an effervescent antacid for an upset tummy.  From a practical point of view, this is really handy.  You can take the whole little canister with you on a run or a bike ride, and drop it into your water bottle if you refill while out somewhere.  The downside is that the flavours aren't all that great; they have this kind of fake sweet taste like an aspartame aftertaste after swallowing a sip of diet coke.  Gross.


NUUN:  Hands-down, this is my favourite.  Like the FIZZ (above) it's a tablet that you just drop into the water bottle to dissolve, but the flavours are a billion times better.  There's a citrus fruit one, a mixed berry one etc. etc.  They all taste good and are sugar-free without the gross aftertaste that some sugar free things sweetened with aspartame or stevia might have.  Its positives:  electrolytes, ingredients I can pronounce, small size for easy transport, and yummy flavour.

ACCESSORIES:

Badass Bandana

HEADGEAR:
One does not run in tropical weather without some form of head gear and 1 inch thick sunscreen. It's a necessity, not an accessory. 

Bandanas: A bandanna or bandana (from the Hindi: बन्धन bandhana, "to tie") is a type of large, usually colorful, kerchief, usually worn on the head or around the neck of a person or pet and is not considered to be a hat. Hmmmm....fancy the word bandana originating from Hindi. Anyhow, I used to use a simple scarf when i first started running years ago. Actually Joy's Man was the one who taught me how to tie one. It was cool, light but after awhile it would slip off or go askew.

Nomi's multipurpose headwear.

Multipurpose Headwear: Then I started using multipurpose headwear by Buff. They come in such pretty and varied designs. They do stay put, do not get water logged with sweat and slowly slide off your head.

Ever-important hat!

Hats: For me, hats are the best thing to wear here. Scarves and bandanas do not shade the eyes. My favorite is the Halo. It's got a band inside that lies like a strap across the forehead that wicks water  away from your face. And , it really works. While running, you do not get water mixed with sunscreen streaming down your face, getting into your eyes, making them burn and turn red. Plus, it does offer the face some protection against the strong sunlight and stops you looking like a boiled lobster.

I totally agree with Nomi...you CANNOT go out and do any kind of sport in the tropics (or even under a Canadian sun) without some kind of head protection.  Now, I HATE HATE HATE hats, bandanas, babushkas, scarves, toques etc.  Anything that goes on my head and across my forehead makes me think of sweaty zits.  It probably goes back to my teen angst years, who knows?  The truth of the matter is that hats make me very nervous.  But I don't have much of a choice, do I?


Now the complicating factor in Canada is that it's not always hot.  Sometimes the hat isn't so much about protection from the sun, but protection from the freakin' cold.  

Joy's headgear!

Hats:  For me, bandanas and scarves and even the cool multipurpose headwear that Nomi uses (and that she's bought for me to try) don't really work.  I think it's because I've got a huge head (or at least a vast forehead), and so these sorts of things tend to slip back.  What does work for me, though are hats.  I finally caved in and bought a hat for the summer (the pink Adidas one in the pic), and what I love about it is that I can throw it in the wash right after using it.  It's lightweight material, and it dries quickly, so I don't have to worry about it getting sweaty and bacteria-ie in between uses.  Then I also have a Craft balaclava (the bank-robber ski mask in the pic), which I use when I'm running and/or skiing in the very cold weather (like -20C or so).  It's necessary, but uncomfortable.  The part around the mouth gets all wet from the condensation from breathing, and if I wear sunglasses, then usually I can't have the balaclava part all the way up over my nose, because then it fogs up my glasses.  But it's better than nothing on those really cold days.  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE my winter Rapha hat (the one that says "rapha" duh).  Rapha is a relatively new company that makes cycling clothes and accessories.  It's amazing.  We buy tonnes of stuff online (even paying the exorbitant duty to bring in our items from the UK).  And their winter hat is great.  I use it cycling and skiing in the winter, and I've never had such a cozy hat.  The only downside is that there's no space for me to pull my ponytail through the back, so I have to wear side braids or pigtails on either side of my ears, making me feel like I'm 9 years old.  My Nike running hat (the grey one in the pic) remedies this.  It has a hole in the back, so I can pull my ponytail through, and...presto...I'm set to go.  The only downside, is that this hat isn't really for very cold weather.  Only about -10C or so.  


If I could get away with it...I'd be a no-hat athlete, but sometimes you can't get exactly what you want!

SKIN PROTECTANT:

Nomi can't live without BodyGlide.

Bodyglide:  Any body part that rubs against each other will chafe after hours of running. Or body parts that rub against certain parts of clothes like seams of bra tops of the buckle of the water bottle carrier. These anti blister balms do help up to a certain extent. It's the only product that i have tried. I know some friends who use plain vaseline and say they work as well.

Joy's skincare arsenal.

Bodyglide:  I'm with Nomi on this one.  I need BodyGlide, especially where my water bottle carrier rubs against my lower back on long runs.  Without BodyGlide there, I get these horrible wounds that hurt when the salt from my sweat gets in them.  


Sunscreen/Bug Spray:But for me, I have more problems than just chafing.  While Nomi's from the tropics, my Canadian skin can't take the tropical sun or the tropical mosquitoes.  Even though I'm from Winnipeg, a place known as the Mosquito Capital of Canada, those Malaysian mosquitoes pack quite a different punch when they get their little stingers into me.  I get these bumps nearly an inch in diameter that are SO CRAZY ITCHY.  So for me, I need sunscreen to prevent me from bursting into flame (or frying like bacon, as Nomi put it once in a post), and I need bug spray to prevent me from becoming some sort of puffed up creature made insane with itches.


All in all, that's a snapshot of our favourite things, things that help us do the sports that we love, that help us run, and that help to keep us sane!  We also have a battery of other items - like our technological gadgets (our garmins), like our favourite sunglasses, like our favourite water bottle carriers - and maybe we'll tell you about those one day.  For now, get out there and buy up all the GUs you can...you won't be disappointed!

Good Fortune up Fortune (Loop #3)

Joy here...I've admitted the fact that Nomi and Lulu will leave me in their running dust this summer, and I'm a-okay with that, because instead of chasing after them like some annoying little sister dogging their heels, I've decided to take a right turn into duathlons, leaving them running straight ahead towards their next running race, Australia's Gold Coast marathon.

So now instead of feeling somewhat guilty for heading out there on my bike rides, I can come up with a coherent plan that intertwines both running and cycling, as I build up my courage to sign up for my first-ever duathlon in early June.

Roughly here's what that plan looks like:
SUNDAY - bike ride in the park
MONDAY - rest day
TUESDAY - short run (5km) & intervals on the bike (which will be the women's Time Trial series, starting in May)
WEDNESDAY - bike ride in the park (ideally some hill repeats)
THURSDAY - short run (5km) & strength training
FRIDAY - long run (10km)
SATURDAY - bike intervals on the parkway out by the Aviation museum

The lake at the top of the steep part of the Fortune climb.

This is just a rough sketch, since I don't really know what I'm doing, but the first day of this new plan was Sunday.  Cili Padi returned from a month in France and was keen for her first ride in the park, and she was keen to ride up to Champlain Lookout via Fortune.  The last two times that I've gone up to the lookout (first as an unplanned surprise ride up to the top and then testing out my beloved brand new bike all the way up there), we have gone the "backwards" way.  Basically we've ridden up the same way that we've then come down, so it's not been a true and full loop, but rather an out-and-back.

Well, Cili Padi was having none of that.  She was keen to drag us up the regular loop, complete with the steep climb up Fortune.

Just waiting for them to come around the corner!

So out we went into the 3C temperatures on Sunday morning to conquer not just that steep Pink Lake climb, but Fortune as well.

My new bike enjoying the view.

And it would seem that the gods were smiling on us, giving us good fortune as we rode up Fortune.  At least the goddess Fortuna seemed to be smiling down on me and giving me a little extra push in my legs, for I just rode up Pink Lake as easy as can be, chatting with Superdave the whole way, and then by the time we reached the Fortune climb, I felt like my legs were light as air, and I was able to keep my bike in a gear harder than I ever have before up that climb, and as I paused to wait for Cili Padi and The Professor once I had topped the steepest part, I couldn't believe just how short that climb seemed to be.  I remembered it being a long sufferfest, but on Sunday, with the goddess smiling down on me and my new bike beneath me, I literally flew up that hill.  It was over before I knew it.

The view that always makes it all worthwhile.

As we regrouped and rode the rest of the way up to the Champlain Lookout, I felt that I owed my new bike a debt of gratitude.  She was fast; she was powerful, and she was easy to ride.  She made me feel relaxed and strong, and as my friends and I snacked up top and looked over the spring fields where the great Canadian Shield meets the Ottawa Valley, I gave my new bike a little pat, sighed a bit to myself, and smiled to my friends before we began the rip-roaring descent back down through the park and then along the rolling pathways home...where I could justify eating a big, giant meal.

After all, I surely deserved it after such a ride, right?

Over and out,
Joy

I'm not a runner...(but maybe I'm a duathlete)

Joy here...Last summer when I returned from Malaysia and Singapore (where I finished my second-ever half marathon), I initially thought that I'd get on track to racing a full marathon, and I even convinced Nomi to sign up for one.  She's now gone on to complete one (last November), and now she and her good friend Lulu (who wrote a great guest post on the blog) are running one together in Australia this coming July.  I, on the other hand, felt my running mojo failing rather rapidly.  I just wasn't in the mood for running; but it's not that I traded in my running shoes and hydration systems for sitting on the couch and eating fast food; no, instead I got into cycling last summer.  I thought to myself, "I'm not a runner...(but maybe I'm a cyclist)" and just enjoyed the bike riding, telling myself that my full marathon goals were just being postponed, not sidelined entirely.

Now with an early spring and a month of cycling under my belt so far, I'm having those same feelings again, where I'd rather be riding my bike than forcing myself out to do the long runs necessary for full marathon training.  I mean, if I have to be out there for 2 or 3 hours, I have to say that I'd rather be riding my bike than running for that time.  I still like the shorter runs, like the 7 to 10km loop by my house, but I'm just not feeling all that inspired to head out there and put in the necessary kilometres for full marathon training.  It feels like a bit of a drain...and that's not what running is supposed to feel like.  It's supposed to be FUN!  Perhaps Nomi put it best in her "Morning has Broken" post from July 2010; she wrote about running for "for the joy of running and the joy of being alive...."  That's what our running journey is supposed to be about!  Yet, here I had forgotten about that fundamental truth and was busy beating myself up over the fact that I wasn't in the mood to train for a full marathon but would rather ride my bike.

It suddenly dawned on me:  "So what?"  Nomi wouldn't care if I rode my bike over training for a running race.  That's not the kind of friend she is.  In fact, when I sent her an email waffling about my running races, here's what she wrote:  "I think that the important thing that one should not forget the purpose of running...which is the joy and freedom running brings you. The lightness, focus and exhilaration of crossing the finishing line regardless of the time."  And, once again, Nomi's wisdom is shining through and guiding me.  I don't need a full marathon to get that sense of joy and freedom.  I get it from riding my bike and going for shorter runs.  And now all I need to do is find some races that allow me to focus my joy of riding and running in the right way so that I get that exhilaration of a finish-line feeling, without suffering for months on end to train for a marathon that my heart just isn't in.

Enter...DUATHLON.  Duathlon is a sporting event that combines cycling and running.  Duh!  Sounds like it was made for me!  While I was out on Wednesday's ride with my spinning instructor, she said that she used to compete in Duathlons in Calgary and loved them.  So I spent some time this weekend looking up local duathlon races, and it seems like there are some throughout this summer that look good for me. The general distance would be a 5km run, followed by a 40km bike ride, ending with a 10km run.  So that's a good, hard kind of event, but one that I think I can handle and, more importantly, one that seems to capture my imagination a little bit better at the moment than a full marathon.  The full marathon's not going anywhere, and when the time is right, I'm sure I'll feel like training for one.  For now, I'm going to set my sights on some duathlons!

So in that spirit, I hopped on my trainer indoors on Saturday to complete 5 3minute interval sets.  Basically this means that I held a harder pace for 3 minutes and then rested for 2 minutes and then did it all over again.  My "interval" pace was around 37 or 38km/hr, and once I can reduce the rest periods between intervals, I'll be doing just fine.  A 37 or 38km/hr pace is a solid kind of pace if I can hold it for the 15km Time Trials that I've set my eye on for Tuesday nights this summer and 40km duathlon legs on the bike.

Watch out world...I'm getting just one step closer to being a triathlete!

Over and out,
Joy

Give'r (or I See your Calgary and I raise you a Winnipeg)

The Spinning Instructor

Joy here...I had my last spinning class of the session yesterday with my spinning instructor who has come out on a few rides with me outdoors and is fast becoming one of my cycling sisters, and while we rode up to Champlain lookout on Wednesday, I was seriously hoping that she'd take it a bit easy on us during our spin class on Thursday morning...it was not to be so.  When I got there she said that we would be having a "go hard or go home" ride, and since we were already there, the "go home" option was foreclosed.  Go hard it was!

Yes, there is actually
a movie (two, in fact)
that make this kind of
idiom famous (or at least
public!). Oh yeah, FUBAR=
fuckedupbeyondallrecognition.

Now the spinning instructor lived in Calgary for 14 years, and I spent the first 21 years of my life living in Winnipeg.  And I suspect that there's something in our shared Western Canadianness that makes us get along.  For instance, I have to say that I enjoy her taste in music during the spin class; there's nothing too funky or techno that might be really avant-garde, but just somehow too cool for me.  Instead, I can usually sing along with the songs she's chosen, because they speak to the Winnipeg in me.

I think another shared Western Canadian value is the notion of givin'er.  I've written about the phrase "give'r" before (which means:  1. Going all out and/or balls to the wall to take care of business as quickly and as awesomely as possible; and/or 2. Acting in a way that is like you're rocking out really hard, but at the same time, trying to solve a problem that may or may not involve drop-kicking something without hesitation).  So with our "go hard" final spin class of the session, I was game to give'r!  With sweat dripping off my body onto the spin bike and a heart rate topping up over 172 beats/min, I was doing my Winnipeggers proud by going "balls to the wall"...take THAT Calgary, and thanks for a great session of spin classes!

Over and out,
Joy