Monday, April 27, 2015

But I can barely walk

First race of the season all said and done. After missing more than 3 races already this year I had to buckle down and get healthy and do a race. I have a half Ironman in June so I really felt like this was a do or die situation. 
Friday was a nice rest day. I did a short bike workout and laid low. 
Saturday I had 20 min of easy running and needed to go to package pick up.
The shirts were very nice. The expo wasn't too busy and there were lots of great booths. When I got home I did a very easy spin on the bike right before I made dinner. Got to bed nice and early.

I love doing races where the kids can be involved as well. Big sis considered doing the 10k but she's not quite there yet. So they signed up for the 1.5km. 


Sunday morning we got up nice and early and made the drive down to the University of Victoria. It was a cool grey day but the rain held off. The girls were very excited to watch me start and then the plan was for them to meet me halfway for a quick cheer before Dad took them to their start.


This is only the second year the TC has done the half marathon. So there were only 500 people or so. I liked how much room there was.



They got right down to business and I took off right with the crowd. I started out a little fast. Because this is a point to point we started out at the university then headed down towards the water, so the first few km's were all downhill. Some of my splits were pretty fast and I got a little worried. I did try to slow down a bit but it just felt sooooo good (such a rookie move). I was going faster than my planned pace, I knew this was bad.

at 7km in the family was there to cheer me on. I love when they are out on the course. It gives me a burst of energy but I wasn't in need of that energy just yet... I was annoyed that my husband didn't meet me further along.


13km in and there's the family! I definitely needed them at this point. I just had my slowest split and was still holding a grudge that my husband showed up too soon. He totally redeemed himself. I wasn't expecting them again. The girls were cheering me on and giving high 5's.
I knew at this point I wouldn't see them again because they had to get to the kids race start but I was so happy to see them. Things were starting to get a bit uncomfortable.
I ended up running with an older gentleman for most of the race. We kind of were going back and forth between each other and then decided maybe we would run together and keep each other going. It worked. When I slowed down at the 12km mark he told me we had to pick up the pace, so we did. Apparently his goal was to break 2 hours and I was so thrilled that he not only broke 2 hours he broke 1:55:00!!!
The last 2 km were tough. My calves were burning, My big toe felt like it was going to explode, my little tow on the other foot felt like it had been torn off. I wanted to walk so bad. My new friend said we've come too far to walk and he was right. He slowly got ahead of me but I kept pushing. Everything was screaming, just then I see my coach and one of my training partners on the corner waiting for me with less than a km to go. Seeing them lifted my spirits and gave me the motivation to push through that last 750m. I ended up with my last km being my fastest split.
If you look closely you can see my grimace. I was hurting big time. I was fighting the pukes too.
Ugh, the price to pay for going out too fast.

So as I cross the finish line and see my new PR of 1:53:36 yay!!! Then  I see the kids race started early and there goes the wave of kids... without me. I missed the kids start. Luckily I was still in the finish shute. So I stayed put and sure enough my little speedsters came barreling through the finish line right into my arms. I wish I had had my camera. 

 So alas, another race over and done with just like that.
Kids were happy and I was happy. The hubs was exhausted more then any of us even though he only ran the kids 1.5km. For some reason he got a nap when we got home and I did not. At least I got my recovery almond milk latte. Life is good.
So am I happy? Yes, was I hoping to do better? Yup. I'll take that PR but I was really hoping to be under 1:52:00. I know I had it in me but with my terrible pacing at the beginning it was my own fault. There's always next time.



Thursday, April 23, 2015

Proud Momma

First off, a huge congratulations to everyone who raced the Boston marathon! My friend and training buddy Colleen did amazing. I can't wait to hear her stories.
***

All this training is catching up to me. Something had to give and unfortunately it was the blog. I can't even remember the last time I did a post but honestly you haven't missed out on too much, I promise. 
However, if you do feel you are missing out you can follow me on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TriMomsLife
or Instagram:
srapamum
I strongly encourage you to also follow my team I'm racing for this year:
soas_racing
Steph posts some pretty fantastic photos.

So what has been happening? Well I have been on the bike so much that I had to get a new saddle. Seriously, I did a 3 1/2 hour ride that was so painful I could barely sit on anything. I really loved my Adamo saddle to begin with but as time went on it got more and more uncomfortable and apparently I'm not the only one with this issue. I think I may have found the right saddle. 
I went with the Bontrager hilo RXL. I really liked how I could adjust the nose of the saddle so I get the benefits of the split seat and the back part doesn't torture my sit bones like the Adamo did. I've got a 100km ride coming up next weekend and then the following weekend I have an 8 hour ride so I'm thinking those will be a good test for my bum comfort.

We've been quite lucky out on the west coast with mild and sunny weather. I have been out on the bike way more than usual.

We had a pit stop at the top of the Malahat a few weeks back. Not my favourite ride due to heavy, crazy fast traffic but the scenery is amazing.



Last weekend I got out with another fabulous friend to ride part of the Ironman Victoria 70.3 bike course. Unfortunately I had a tough track workout first and the legs were not happy so I had to cut the ride short. But again, gorgeous weather and I got to show off my Team Soas jersey.

So needless to say training is going pretty good. I am definitely enjoying it, getting out a lot. I have a confession to make though, I am not in the pool nearly as much as I would like to be. Lately I seem to make it twice a week. I probably should be going 3 but I'm really struggling to fit it in. Work has been very busy, kids have been sick and need extra momma time. I'm doing volunteering whenever I get the chance. Life is just busy and really, swimming is my strongest so I'm okay with 2 days for now.

So onto some bragging. My awesome girls did a Splash n' Dash this past weekend. They were so excited. Big sis has ben training with the school triathlon club (which I love helping out with). She is hoping to do a triathlon in June or July this year.
Little sis just loves being in the water and has made it very clear she does not want to do a triathlon this year. 


This year they started with the little kids which was great. They love all of the cheering.

Little sis was the second group to go. Her swim coach was there cheering her on.

I was volunteering at the finish line so I got to give her the medal. 

Next up was big sis. She had 50m to do and she did great! 

After her 250m run she cam across the line happy and wanting to run some more. I might have a future Ironman on my hands.

And no race is complete without snacks.

We are so lucky with the swim club coaches we have. They are so good to the kids.

Big shout out to our swim club CV Breakers and the volunteers who made the event so great!
This weekend the kids will be doing the TC 10k kids race.

I will be racing the half. I have to say I'm a little nervous. This will be my first race of the year and first race in over 6 months. I think it's safe to say this will be my kick off for race season.
I wasn't going to write it down because now there will be pressure but my coach is electing a PB from me. I've been working very hard on my running and all of my target workouts I have hit my pace bang on. So wish me luck that I achieve my goal and the weather isn't like it was at Boston on Monday.

As I end todays post I want to remind everyone to take time for yourself. Away from training, away from work, away from kids, away from spouses. Spend a little time on yourself. Do something that you wouldn't normally do. Last week I had luck with a great friend and as we finished our lunch she suggested we go get a pedi. At first I thought I don't have time for that, I've got to get kids from school, make dinner and whatever else was on my list. Then I thought, I could really use one. so I called my husband to see if he could grab the kids so I could enjoy a little extra time with my girlfriend. It was seriously the best thing I could have done for myself. We had a great time and it felt so amazing. 
My toes even match my bike and Soas team kit.
So thank you Dr. R for making my day super special, I really enjoyed our afternoon together.