I've been lurking the last few weeks; first I was away on holiday, then I got ill, and last week was my first week back training since mid January. Whoops. Managed to get on the bike x 2 (one was an FTP test), run x 5 and swim x 3.

Plan for the coming week is swim x 3, bike x 3, run x 5. I'm contemplating going to a group spin class at MEC; it's run by a women's road cycling group but I can't find out much about them (one of the downsides of not being on Facebook). @edbikebabe - do you know anything about "YEG road girls"?

We don't normally do anything for Valentine's Day but the OH decided to surprise me with a little stop-motion video of my stuffed bear doing teddy bear rolls and drawing hearts on post-it notes, all set to La Habanera from Carmen (we went to the opera recently and I have been humming it non-stop). It was very cute and very unexpected. It's a long weekend here so that's quite nice as well!

How are you TC?

I wanna know how mistress K's trail run went!!! :-)

Meet went really well, won 2 races, 2nd and 3rd for the others, two new personal bests (PBs). K had similar results. I learned a valuable lesson re: passing and it cost me a victory and a 3rd PB - won't make that mistake again!

Ran once with the dog, didn't ride as my hand/thumb is still really sore & achy, and I'm not going to ride until it's cleared via x-ray. Going to to doc this week to get it checked.

This week:
- run 3x
- skate 5x
- get hand x-rayed
- find a physio

4 weeks left in the skating season, and flag football starts up a week after that. Will be coaching the full U14, U12 and U10 teams on function movement, strength, agility, balance, and coaching one U12 team with a recent HS grad who played all thru HS - I get to coach the "kid" in how to coach kids. This should be a lot of fun. :-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Been mia for a bit. Basically since when the hubs works, the computer goes with.
Still working on obtaining a job. Unemployment pays pretty poorly but leaves a lot of time to train. So as long as I can avoid training expenses...
That said, made the decision to buy a master's pass again. So I've been swimming very regularly 2x a week, about 4k yds each time.
Last week I got on the bike 6x.
I started working with a new PT, that's quite exciting too. I finally am seeing progress. Experiencing dry needling. It's weird but maybe it's working. Different exercises than the last PT. Shocked my insurance approved more PT, but excited about it too. Small miracle.
I'm really hoping to get back to running. They've run me so far on an alter-g at 80% bodyweight for a few mins at a time with no issues.
PT is a triathlete too.

Jobs - I've now talked to 3 companies that are looking to hire. 2 are definite about hiring. One is a co. I've been talking to since before Christmas.
None of them are close by.
45 mins, 40 mins, and an hour. One way.

At times it's been stressful. Trying to stay sane.
I'm sure something will precipitate. Hopefully sooner than later. I've wondered since changing careers if I'm doomed to always have to drive far with this one. Ugh. There's only 2 places near me that employ folks who do what I do and neither is hiring, plus I wouldn't be too excited about the one (I was there for a residency).

I haven't signed up for a single race. We were waiting to hear about the job situation.

You should do the spin class. I went on two road rides last summer that lead to the formation of the group. Very diverse & interesting ladies - I'm sure you'd like it.

I'm treading water (without actually getting near a pool). Husband had shoulder surgery 2 weeks ago - so I am everything to everyone right now. I'm exhausted. My patience has run thin more than once - something I work hard to keep from showing.

Trying to get on the trainer at least 2-3 times per week. I know it helps my mental state - even if I'd rather be sleeping.

I finally got sick last week. I was off to a pretty good week training-wise, but had to be outside in the single-digit wind chills for a while for work on Friday, and I think that was the boost this cold needed to finally take over my immune system, lol. I was a bum on the couch for a lot of the weekend, although we did go out to dinner with friends Saturday night and out for brunch with my parents on Sunday. I went straight to bed/nap after both events though, haha. I also watched the Olympic marathon trials, which was amazing. Desiree Linden trains not far from me so she's kind of our hometown hero.

My husband and I don't really do Valentine's Day but I sent him a link to a molten chocolate latte that Starbucks offered last weekend only, hoping he would bring me one... he didn't see my email until Sunday night. Sad face! I'll have to wait til next year. I cooked steaks for dinner and we ate an entire thing of Trader Joe's sea salt dark chocolate-covered almonds. Who said romance is dead?

So it was a very easy, front-loaded training week of one swim, one easy run, two rides on the trainer and one weight-lifting session. I'm not making any training plans for this week until I start feeling better. I am already a little less runny today so that's promising. I Lysol'ed my entire cube last night and am trying to keep my germs contained.

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http://mediocremultisport.blogspot.com

I also watched Trials - so exciting!

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

YO K - are you still alive??? I was thinking about you/your race all weekend!!!

Valentine's day - my parents mailed valentines from them and our two cats. :-) on Valentine's day itself, my dad sent me a video of said cats. One is a 10 week old kitten, the other is 1.5 years old. The kitten was a foster that we ended up keeping - she was pretty much feral when we took her in, and through lots of love and cuddling she is now quite personable (as it were). I'm crazy about both of them.

last week my goals were a day off from running (done), bike twice (done), and swim 5-6 times (did 5). I had a good week, particularly run workouts.

M: 7 mi run (5 x 1 mi @ 7:13 pace w/ 1 min easy between them) + 2000 yd swim
T: 9 mi easy run + 2200 yd swim
W: 8.5 mi run (3 x 1 mi @ 6:40 pace) + 1900 yd swim
T: 8.5 mi easy run + 2500 yd swim
F: 8 mi run (20 min @ 7:19 pace, short easy section, 30 min @ 7:13 pace) + 4000 yd swim
S: 6.2 mi easy run + 1h40 cycling (6 mi outside, then some on the trainer watching trials)
S: 1:45 on the trainer

goals for this week:
bike 3 times (1 done yesterday), take a day off from running, swim 4-5 times
big goal is no eating issues... I binged twice last week :(

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Last week was my last unstructured week, as I started a new training plan/racing team yesterday. Two highlights of last week:

• Spent Saturday timing Lane 2 for the masters meet at my pool. I have not been swimming with the team lately and so it was nice to give back.
• Spent Sunday standing in the middle of the road at Mile 26 of the LA Marathon, making everyone without a race bib exit before the finish chute. For that I was paid $125, a pair of Skechers shoes in size 7 (too big), a marathon shirt in size XS (too small), and a jacket that they didn't provide. :) But it was fun, not about the swag. One thing of note -- putting the bibs for you and your wife on your 3- and 4-year-old children so they can cross the finish line with you is NOT okay (plus now you have no bib, so you cannot cross with them anyway).

This week is all about testing and setting benchmarks for the season. So far, I have already recorded HR/pace/power for a 20-min swim at "moderate" pace followed by 12x50 at "faster than that" pace, a 30-min bike ride at "moderate," and a 30-min run at "moderate." Next up are 3 tests focused on repeating "race-pace" intervals. This is so unlike anything I have ever done, but I am already enjoying the structure of it.

events can't happen without volunteers! you are awesome!

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Argh sorry womens - I was swamped at work last week and had zero time to stop by ST even to log workouts!

I did manage to write a race report last Friday: click here to read.

The TL;DR is that I went with the hand bottle (don't have any insulated ones) and just carried it, which resulted in frostbite to my right thumb - it's still a bit numb and swollen - and froze up after about 6km anyway. The course was poorly marked so almost everyone got lost - after ~10km and 2 unscheduled trips back to the start/finish area I ended up running with 3 other people to try to find our way through the 15k route so we'd get 25km done on the day. Almost 3.75hrs after the starting gun I finally finished, having run somewhere around 27km and ending up with 3rd in my AG.

Well, and frostbite in the tips of my left big toe & 2nd toe. -28c with windchill of -42c to start, which warmed up to a balmy -23c with windchill of -34c. Fortunately the trails were in good condition compared to the ice we expected; packed powder and not too deep.

I did get back out and running a bit last week. Just cruel bloody fate that it went up to 11c on Saturday afternoon, one week to the day after the race.

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ill advised racing inc.

Yikes. Glad you are mostly okay. Hopefully the frostbite does no lasting damage.

Wow make sure you keep an eye on the thumb. FWIW, the mild frostnip I got in my big toes after the skate marathon took about 6mo for full feeling to come back. Glad you are (mostly) ok.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

wow, I just read this - so sorry to hear about the frostbite! How is it feeling now?

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Thanks womens!

The thumb would probably be doing better if I hadn't done something pretty stupid last Wednesday. The pad of it was still too sore and swollen to take much pressure, so I used the bony portion just below the pad to release the e-brake on my car...then SLAMMED the end of the thumbnail into the console hard enough that it felt like I ripped the nail off.

It's been loose since, and moves in really stomach-churning ways (though it's not really painful anymore). The base of the nail shows a bit of bruising, though I'm not sure of the extent because I have nail polish left over from Valentine's Day on it...which I'm not that inclined to remove, as I'm kind of ostriching about this.

The thumb itself is still a bit bigger than the other but doesn't really feel swollen anymore. The very tip is still a bit numb but sensation is starting to return. Really, I'd probably be able to use it normally if I hadn't buggered up the nail. I'll probably lose the damn thing, which will just be lovely - I thought it was bad enough losing toenails, and I can hide that in my shoe all day!

The frostbitten big toe developed a bit of a burning sensation (akin to feeling returning after having been numbed by cold) last night that's continuing today. It had been numb up until I went for a run last night, so maybe the increased blood circulation helped? Don't know - I ran twice on Saturday (8km + 6km) and then another 9k on Sunday, so it's not like there hasn't been stimulus previously.

I'm also trying to hit the swirlpool after each swim (Tu/Th/Sa/Su) for some warm water therapy on the frostbite, and even letting the hot water run over the thumb a bit extra whenever I wash my hands. Can't do hyberbaric oxygen therapy and have no access to tissue plasminogen activators, so warm water and trying to keep circulation high are about all I can do.

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ill advised racing inc.