A perfect Saturday

What a great week. It started off a bit slow, was feeling a bit tired and again, missed my Tuesday night swim. Felt pretty bad about it, but was in bed at 8:15pm so I guess I couldn't feel too bad. At least I didn't forfeit a swim just to sit on the couch - I was actually tired.

Wednesday nights spin was brutal. The workouts are definitely getting tougher as get fitter. To that point, the track workout on Thursday was killer! Plus - I got lost on the bus getting there (since my usual ride was sick and didn't go). It took me 2 buses, a train and a $10 cab ride to get there (late)... but I made it. I'll save my gripping about not having a car for some other time...

Here's a taste of the track workout:

10min warm up

3 x 200m ALL OUT with 2:30 recovery

5 x 200m on 1:15s (4 times)
400m cool down

That middle section (main set) is 20 times 200M sprints! That was tough.

Following that, on Friday, it was SO NICE out (13 degrees and sunny) so I left the office early and headed home to head out for a run along the seawall with an old friend.

Saturday morning, I ran into another old friend and we went for a long ride out to Horseshoe Bay. It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful day.

Here are some pics from our ride;

It definitely was a tough week. I put in the most miles running this week since last summer and my legs are feeling it. Lots of relaxing at home after the workouts makes it all worth it :) Plus - I picked up a new coffee maker so now my early morning rituals are not capped at one savory cuppa joe, but a (seemingly) never ending pot of caffeine goodness to get me going.


It's been a great week, and I'm looking forward to next week. It's going to be a busy one. In fact, training is going to suffer for the next two weeks. The Sport Events are in full throttle now (I work for the Olympics) and next week is the Ice Sledge Hockey tournament. These are the Paralympians that play ice hockey (in a sled because most of them don't have the use of their legs). I got to see a documentary on the Canadians Men's team last year and since then have been looking forward to seeing them defend their World Championship title next week. As an able bodied athlete, it's truly inspiring to watch these guys do what they do.

The NEXT week, I'll be up in Whistler working at the Paralympic Biathlon and Cross-Country World Cup. Again, some really inspiring athletes. Anyone that has the chance to see it - come out to Whistler Olympic Park - it's free!

Anywho; here are my stats from this week:




Happy training everyone!

S.

Just another week..

Nothing much to report this week. I had a pretty "blah" week and a few not so great workouts. I was late to my spin on Wednesday (bridge closed.. not my fault), I had a mediocre hills workout on Thursday and today I opted to nap all day rather than do my long run.

Having just said that, I can see the contradiction with the next thought.

I'm tired of being at the back of the pack. I've been doing this a while now, and I'm not expecting that I'm winning any championships or anything, but for God's sake... can't I run faster than this????

I'm training pretty balanced, I'm eating really well, I'm getting lots of sleep, yet... I just can't seem to step it up a notch. I talk to my coach about it, and he tells me to stay positive, it's early still. Which is fine. I'm trying. But it's really discouraging when I'm always working my hardest, but never seem to gain any ground on my peers.

Knowing that this game is almost more about what goes on in your head than anything else, I can see where the tweaks in my attitude are setting my peers apart.

Example A:
Hills workout Thursday: I'm running really well with a pack, feeling pretty good until one of them passes me. I'm tired, my legs are burning, I want to be running faster, and now this guy passes me. I stay cool for the first little while, stay on him. Then on our way down the hill, we run past the coach and he yells "3min left". The hill repeat that we're doing (up and down the same hill) is about 4 minutes up and 2 minutes down, so since we're on our way down.. I figure we can't possibly do ANOTHER one with only 3 mins left. We get to the bottom, I pull up and thank god I'm done. What does the guy I was chasing do???? He turns around and heads up the hill again!!! Argh. I can't be the one that gives up first, so of course I start up again and chase him up the hill. Unfortunately, by this time (even with the few seconds that I stopped) he's way gone in front now. There's no way I'm catching him. I've lost my momentum, I'm frustrated and pissed at myself for stopping. By the time I get back up to where the coach is he says "times up - Sarah stop". EVERYONE ELSE GOT TO FINISH THEIR LAST HILL but because I stopped at the bottom, thinking that I was close enough to the end that I can just stop, I lost out on the last push of the workout that ends up being the most valuable.

I guess what I have to do, and what I want to focus on this week is keeping a positive attitude, no matter what. There are all kinds of obstacles throughout the day, and they are always going to be there.. bad day at work, traffic jam making you late, personalities that bug you, all kinds of situations that come up that make you loose focus.

I have to remember that I'm there because I want to be. I'm working hard because I want to push myself. I"m not there to cut corners or to be irritated with it all. That's just silly.

Next week - it's going to be all positive thinking. If I'm not enjoying it. I'm not going. It's not worth it and it's not helping my training at all to be there with a negative attitude.

On that note. Here are my stats form this week (minus the long run that I didn't do today).